The news we've all been waiting for?

Just when you think science comes up with something really nice (this from New Scientist)

Regular consumption of cocoa may halve risk of dying and lower blood pressure, suggests a Dutch study in elderly men ...“The men in the group that consumed the least cocoa were twice as likely to die from a heart attack than those in the group that consumed the most cocoa – at least 4g per day – and the risk remained lower even when other factors such as smoking, physical exercise and weight were taken into account,” says lead researcher Brian Buijsse, at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment.

they then go and spoil it with a little minor consideration

“But chocolate contains many calories, so we are not recommending that people go out and eat lots of chocolate,” he adds.

Pah!

It goes on to say that to get the therapeutic level of cocoa flavan-3-ols into your system you'd have to eat the equivalent of 100g of dark chocolate a day. I could live with that although, if I were to believe the experts at the British Heart Foundation, I wouldn't live with that.

I'm sure if the study is completely borne-out, and flavan-3-ols are found to be so very beneficial, some bright spark will manage to produce some kind of fat-and-calorie-free chocolate pill. Where's the fun in that.