Dark secret

Keep this in mind for Valentine's Day shopping: Dark chocolate is better for your loved one than milk chocolate. That's the conclusion of researchers whose findings are published in the August 28, 2003 issue of Nature. Adding milk to chocolate seems to cancel out its antioxidant properties, which protect the heart and arteries.

In the study, scientists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland and the National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Italy found that dark chocolate boosts blood antioxidant levels by almost 20 percent, and volunteers had to consume twice as much milk chocolate as dark chocolate to enjoy the benefits of the same level of antioxidants. Sign us up for the next round of clinical trials!

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