Avoid Death, Buy Chocolate

            While you’re probably aware that it’s heart healthy, chocolate may be even more powerful than previously thought, a new study reports.  When Dutch scientists followed nearly 500 men for 15 years, they found that those who ate the most cocoa daily had a 50 percent lower risk of dying of heart disease than those who ate the least.  “Antioxidants in cocoa activate nitric oxide, an enzyme that relaxes blood vessels, making it easier for your heart to deliver blood throughout your body,” says lead researcher Brian Buijsse, M.Sc.  The most surprising finding?  The death-defying benefits were achieved by consuming just 4 grams of cocoa a day-about the same amount as in two chocolate Hershey Kisses.

Shake Down Hypertension

            High blood Pressure?  You don’t have to table the salt.  Australian scientists recently determined that diluting regular salt with a mixture of potassium salt and Epsom salts lowers arterial blood pressure by nearly 6 points-without noticeably altering the taste.  That’s as effective as many blood pressure lowering drugs.  “Besides reducing total sodium intake, this strategy increases potassium consumption, which has also been shown to reduce hypertension,” says study author Bruce Neal, M.D.  To duplicate the salt mixture, fill an empty salt shaker with about 65 percent table salt, 25 percent Morton Salt Substitute (potassium chloride), and 10 percent Epsom salts.  Then pour the contents into a small bowl, mix together, and funnel back into the shaker.

The Comfort Food Zone

            It’s not your imagination: Stress really does make you crave sweets, according to researchers at Montclair State University, in New Jersey.  In the study, scientists provided groups of stressed and unstressed people with four bowls of different snacks: potato chips, peanuts, grapes and M&M’s and four times fewer grapes than their more laid-back counterparts.  One likely reason is that foods high in simple sugar, such as candy, increase levels of serotonin, a feel-good chemical in your brain.  Problem is, this may make you happier momentarily, but it won’t reduce stress.  Instead, manage your stress and waistline simultaneously: Danish researchers found that those who exercise at any intensity for 2 hours a week—about 17 minutes a day—are 61 percent less likely to feel highly stressed than sedentary people.