一項荷蘭的調查發現，常吃巧克力的老人在某些疾病的死亡率比不常吃巧克力的人要低上百分之五十。

    目前大家所喜歡吃的巧克力可以說是由荷蘭人首先發明的。他們利用加入堿的方法成功的去除了可可豆中的苦味。而荷蘭的國家公共衛生及環境研究所(National Institute for Public Health and the Environment)的Brian Buijsse最近發表了一個調查報告(Zutphen Elderly Study)，針對1000位年紀在65到84歲的男性進行調查。其中一部分的研究是針對470個男性在1985年到2000年間，可可的食用量進行分析。

    營養師列出24種含有可可的食物，從巧克力棒到巧克力醬，然后分別計算出里面所含的可可量，以此來計算每個人每天所吃的可可克數。根據調查結果，他們把受訪對象分為吃很少巧克力、中等量巧克力、及大量巧克力三群。吃最多的一群大約每天可可的攝取量大約是四克。

    他們發現，吃大量巧克力的人，收縮壓跟舒張壓大概比不常吃巧克力的人低了3.7跟2.1厘米汞柱。吃其他甜食就看不出這個差別。而常抽煙跟常喝酒的人，這個效果就不顯著。而吃巧克力所伴隨的高卡路里，也沒有對心臟產生影響。相反的，常吃巧克力的人，心臟冠狀動脈出現疾病的機率甚至比一般人低了百分之五十。

    盡管吃巧克力顯示會降低血壓并可能可以延長壽命，但是根據研究報告，這兩者之間并沒有發現統計上的關聯。所以科學家似乎還要把巧克力好好研究一番。目前唯一所知道的，是可可豆富含大量的抗氧化劑，這可能是相當重要的因素。

    Cocoa Linked to Lower Risk of Disease 

    The Dutch have a long history with chocolate. Although native Mexicans and their Spanish conquerors first used the bitter bean--and reported on its tonic powers--a Dutchman was the first to extract modern cocoa and neutralize its bitterness with alkali. The modern chocolate bar was born. Now, results from a study of aging Dutch men have shown that cocoa consumers were half as likely to die from disease than those who did not eat the sweet treat. 

    Brian Buijsse of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Bilthoven and his colleagues measured the cocoa intake of 470 men between 1985 and 2000 as part of the Zutphen Elderly Study, a longitudinal look at nearly 1,000 Dutch men between 65 and 84 years of age. The nutrition experts identified 24 cocoa-containing foods that the elderly men ate, ranging from dark chocolate bars to chocolate spreads. They summed the total amount of cocoa each consumed and came up with a grams-per-day measurement, which they used to separate the men into three groups: those who ate little chocolate, a modest amount, and the most.