Sweet Revenge

Chocolate eaters are thinner. Really

Steve Dawson

Safe Harbor. Fisheries and boat traffic threatened to decimate the Hector's-dolphin population near New Zealand.

Long branded as a dieter's foe, chocolate may have been given an unduly bad rap.

That's what the latest study to balance the health benefits and harms of the sweet treat shows: sure, chocolate is loaded with calories, but its fattening potential may be more than offset by its positive metabolic effects--which also improve heart health, cholesterol levels, glucose control and blood pressure.

In the study, involving more than 1,000 men and women who reported their chocolate consumption over a week and had their body mass index (BMI) measured, those who ate chocolate more frequently had lower BMIs than those who...

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