Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Mmmm! Chocolate!



There is still some fairness and justice in this world. Not only does chocolate correlate with the enjoyment of other bodily pleasures but it's also good for your health. The most recent medical news suggest that chocolate is better for cough than the usual patent medicines:

Dark chocolate may have health benefits to weigh against fears of tooth decay or putting on weight.
A chemical compound, theobromine, which is found in cocoa, has proved more effective at stopping persistent coughing than codeine.
Tests have so far involved only 10 people and larger studies are needed, according to a team from Imperial College and the Royal Brompton and St Bartholomew's hospitals in London and a Hungarian company. They described their work in an online journal published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.


Usually I'd rave and rant about the legitimacy of a study with ten subjects, but in this case I don't feel any need to do so. Anything that promotes chocolate-eating is a very good thing in my books. Note that the experimental subjects took 50 grams of the medication, but that more might be better! Isn't this wonderful?