CHOCOLATE IS HEALTHY

My heart skips a beat, guys. From love? No, if only it were that festive. Something about being way too picky according to my loved ones. I suggested to my mother that she doesn't need to worry. Mr. Right will show up, within a year. Back to my heart, because it does skip a beat every now and then. And don't worry, I now embrace that arrhythmia, because it seems to be part of it if you're a bit of a sports fanatic.

Recently, my heart did a triple somersault and it had nothing to do with that arrhythmia. Just a little jump of happiness. Because what is the case? Eating chocolate can reduce the risk of arrhythmias, according to a large-scale study involving more than 55,000 Danish men and women. This was done through an extensive survey, in which participants had to indicate how often and how much chocolate they consumed. Researchers found that people who eat chocolate more often have a ten percent lower chance of developing an arrhythmia. This applies to a chocolate consumption of 30 to 90 grams per month. A bar of chocolate weighs about 100 grams. Oh, just one Tony per month, you say?

Oh no, wait. Don't worry, girlfriend, there's more. The chance increased even more when people consumed no less than 30 grams of the sweet addiction. At 60 to 180 grams, the chance even decreased by 20 percent.

And that we women need just a little bit more than the male gender is also evident. The strongest correlation was found in women when they ate 30 grams of chocolate weekly.

They saw their chance of atrial fibrillation decrease by 21 percent. Men who consumed 60 to 180 grams of chocolate weekly had an average 23 percent lower chance of developing an arrhythmia.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean you can start devouring bars of sea salt & caramel, because: sugar. Dark chocolate remains healthier than a white or milk chocolate bar due to its lower sugar and fat content. But of course, you can also just make your own bars, uh, chunks like I do. If your heart doesn't start racing from that...