One piece at a time: Doctors believe chocolate is good for you... but only in small doses.File

After years of being told to eat our greens and that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, some good news has finally arrived for gluttons.

European doctors have uncovered evidence that both wine and chocolate have unexpected health benefits.

An Italian study, published in the American Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that a regular glass of wine - either red or white - can help put off tooth decay and gum disease, and heal sore throats.

Italian scientists, tested bottles of supermarket Valpolicella and Pinot Nero wine, finding the drink has ingredients that can kill bacteria.

Professor Gabriella Gazzani said wine's antibacterial properties were well-known thousands of years ago.

"Although well-known by the ancient Romans, have been little investigated" in recent times, she told Britain's Daily Mail.

"Overall, our findings seem to indicate that wine can act as an effective anti-microbial agent against streptococci bacteria and upper respiratory tract infections," she said, warning however that no matter how tempting the possibility, wine shouldn't be used as an alternative to toothpaste.

"We should still drink wine because it tastes good, goes well with food and is a pleasure to share with company," she said. "And we should still brush and floss our teeth the accepted way."

Meanwhile there was good and bad news for chocoholics: Dark chocolate seems to lower blood pressure, but it requires barely a mouthful to do it, according to German researchers.

The latest study to look into chocolate's much heralded health benefits added to mounting evidence that cocoa-rich chocolate is good for you. But it found that only a tiny amount is enough.

Volunteers for the study, the results of which were published in yesterday's edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, ate just over 6 grams of dark chocolate daily for almost five months - one square from a German chocolate bar called Ritter Sport - equal to about 1 1/2 Hershey's Kisses or perhaps a single square from a bar of Cadbury's Bournville.

People who ate the dark stuff ended up with lower blood pressure readings than those who ate white chocolate.

University of Cologne researcher Dr Dirk Taubert, the study's lead author, said the blood pressure reductions with dark chocolate were small but still substantial enough to potentially reduce cardiovascular disease risks, although study volunteers weren't followed long enough to measure that effect.

The research involved just 44 people aged 56 through 73, but the results echo other small studies of cocoa-containing foods.

The results are interesting but need to be duplicated in larger, more diverse populations, said Dr Laura Svetkey, of Duke University's Hypertension Center. She stressed that the study results should not be viewed as license to gorge on chocolate.

"I would be as happy as the next person if I got to eat more chocolate," she said, but cautioned that weight gain from eating large amounts of dark chocolate would counteract any benefits on blood pressure.

China Daily

(China Daily 07/05/2007 page9)