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Healthy indulgences. I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.
We often report on how unhealthy it is to indulge in foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat. So it’s nice to have a chance to report on indulgences that may actually be good for us. In a nine-year study conducted on over 30,000 Swedish women, those who ate chocolate once or twice per week were nearly a third less likely to suffer heart failure than those who ate less chocolate. The researchers point out that those who ate it every day didn’t show any improvement, probably because of all those extra calories.
And another study suggests you might want to wash it down with wine: Norwegian women who enjoyed a glass of wine twice per week showed improved mental functioning over women who hardly drank at all. Again, the researchers caution that over-indulging isn’t a good idea. I’m Bob Hirshon for AAAS, the Science Society.