Sweet! 'Chocolate Good For Your Health'

Chocolate is no longer a guilty pleasure, in fact it is good for you - apparently lowering blood pressure and cutting the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

An extensive study by German nutritionists has produced results many chocoholics have been dreaming of for years.

They monitored more than 19,000 people and their chocolate consumption over a decade, finding those who ate the most got the greatest benefit. The experts found eating 7.5 grams of dark chocolate could reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke by 39% and could also lead to lower blood pressure. As always though, there is a catch - the most expensive, purest chocolate is the best for you. The nutritionists found dark chocolate produced the best results when it contains at least 70% cocoa.

June Davidson from the Heart Foundation also cautioned the amount identified in the study did not offer the chance to pig out. This was a really interesting study and it found that a very small amount of chocolate actually reduced your blood pressure and your risk of heart disease.The amounts of chocolate were very small - only seven grams - and that's about a square a day or about half a small Easter egg spread over a whole week, so we are talking about very, very small amounts of chocolate."