Michael Stanclift, N.D.: Dark Chocolate's Heart Health Benefits Are Bittersweet

It's Valentine's Day, and chocolate is bound to be around us. We love the stuff, and recent studies suggest it may be one of the foods that loves us back.

Practical Nutrition: A bit of dark chocolate is a good thing, but go for 70 percent cacao

My husband, Jeff, loves chocolate in many forms, but dark chocolate is his favorite. That's good because dark chocolate has been shown to decrease heart disease and stroke risks. Small amounts can help increase blood flow, reduce blood pressure, increase antioxidants, and improve HDL, or good, cholesterol.

The Dark and Light Sides of the Chocolate Industry

Plantations with terrible conditions continue to dominate the industry, but the growing success of cabrucas offers one possible way forward.

New chocolate bar purports to be heart-healthy

The 3-inch-long Winetime Bar — available at Vitamin Shoppes — combines dark chocolate and red wine extract, and is touted as being heart-healthy for all the sweethearts on Valentine’s Day lists.

Got a Health Complaint? There May Be a Chocolate for That

Most chocolate lovers are well aware that the dark stuff is naturally packed with antioxidants, the health-boosting compounds that are thought to protect against heart disease, cancer and stroke. But over the past several years, chocolatiers have been cooking up more potent recipes, adding to chocolate a variety of superfoods, supplements and spices that purport [...]