No, you didn’t read the name of this article incorrectly. A new study is taking place to see if the nutrients in dark chocolate can actually promote heart health. Chocolate pills may sound exciting, but you won’t be getting the same enjoyment as eating an actually chocolate bar unfortunately. This may not actually be a bad thing though. How many of you are scared to eat a chocolate bar because of the calories, sugar, or amount of fat? Well, if you take chocolate in pill form, all of these issues are instantly eliminated.

THE BIG QUESTION……….Will you still get the benefits of chocolate in pill form?

I think they may be on to something here. To actually reap the benefits of dark chocolate, you would have to eat such a large amount of chocolate that the rest of your health may begin to suffer. The pills eliminate this issue because they pack such a large amount of the dark chocolate nutrients into the capsule. Another major issue with eating the candy bar is due to the cocoa flavanols. The cocoa flavanols are packed with the nutrients. During the processing of these candy bars, the cocoa flavanols are usually destroyed. This issue is eliminated because the candy company, Mars Inc., has patented a way to extract flavanols from cocoa in high concentration and put them into pill form. The flavanols will be protected in the capsule, so you won’t have to worry about losing the nutrients.

Testing has looked very promising so far. With smaller studies cholesterol, blood pressure, the body’s insulin use, and other heart related issues showed improvements. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. If this study is proven successful, it could have the potential to save many lives.

I’m excited to see what the long term results are for this study. The only major concern for me would be the concept of “more isn’t always better.” They are putting a very large amount of these flavanols in each pill, and I’m wondering if the side effects could be an issue with such a large dose. Hopefully this won’t be the case. Let’s try to think positive.

-Tom