'Now a study out of Germany adds weight to the pro-chocolate evidence, making it appear that the cosmic plan isn’t so punishing, after all. The study, just published in The European Heart Journal, followed 19,357 adults for 10 years. The researchers found that those subjects who ate just a tiny 7.5 gram square of chocolate every day lowered their risk of heart attack by 27 percent and reduced their risk of stroke by a whopping 48 percent when compared to those subjects who ate less or none. The chocolate-eating subjects also had lower blood pressure.
As for the amount of chocolate the subjects consumed, alas — it wasn’t exactly a hungry-teen-sized chunk. A regular Hershey’s bar weighs an ounce and a half; so 7.5 grams comes to about one-quarter of an ounce, meaning that the subjects ate the measly equivalent of one-sixth of a Hershey candy bar daily, or about seven large chocolate chips. That’s not exactly a party-sized portion, but compared to taking cholesterol pills for prevention, it’s a hands-down winner in the flavor department.'
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