(Reuters) - Eating chocolate is not only a treat for the tongue
-- it may also have some tangible benefits for heart health,
such as lowering blood pressure slightly, according to a study
involving more than a thousand people. The study, which combined
the results of 42 smaller studies and was published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, also found that
participants had small improvements in blood vessel function and
a dip in their insulin levels. A number of past studies have
found that chocolate lovers seem to have lower rates of certain
heart risks, such as high blood pressure. "My take-away message
would be that if people like dark chocolate, then eating a
little in place of other 'treat' foods is fine, and may be
beneficial," said study leader Lee Hooper, at Norwich Medical
School in the UK. "However, the evidence is not yet good enough
to suggest that we should all be doing this." She cautioned that
the studies involved were neither large enough nor long enough
to show whether eating chocola