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Why is Chocolate Healthy?, Part 1 |
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Chocolate really is good for you. Before you say, "Yeah, right," remember that "Yeah, right" is what we said when they first told us red wine was good for us. "Yeah, right" is what we said when they told us olive oil was good for us. We still carry old assumptionsperhaps from many decades of mushy vegetables in the United States, or from well-meaning mothersthat has us convinced of a split in the food world: there are foods that are good for us, and foods that taste good, and rarely do the two sides mix. Broccoli, spinach, whole-wheat bread: good for us, taste bad. Wine, nuts, chocolate: bad for us, taste good.
Thankfully, just as we are learning how delicious broccoli and spinach can be, just as we now take it for granted that moderate wine drinking is good for our hearts, we will soon see it as self-evident that chocolate is good for us. But that time is still a bit off, so we'd better go through the evidence anyway.
Members of the jury, I now call antioxidants to the stand.
What Are Antioxidants?
Although everyone has heard of antioxidants, most people have only a hazy conception of what they are. These compounds, |
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