Good news, chocolate fanatics: Your habit -- be it a bar a day, or simply a Hershey's Kiss before bed -- is actually good for you.


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So says a new study from Granada University's Department of Medical Physiology in Spain, which reported their findings in the new issue of Nutrition. There's already been research that says eating chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease, and a study that linked eating chocolate to leanness in adults. But a new study discovered that regularly consuming chocolate helps teenagers stay slim, too.

Researchers looked at more than 1,400 teens from nine European countries, and measured body fat and activity levels. They found that the higher the teens' chocolate intake, the lower the level of total fat and fat around the middle the teens possessed -- regardless of other health factors (including exercise).

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Scientists aren't sure just what it is about chocolate that helps people stay thin, though some think it has something to do with the flavanoids contained in the delicious treat.

Here's our (incredibly non-scientific) theory: People who eat chocolate give in to their cravings, rather than eat around them, so they end up eating far fewer calories than those of us who try in vain not to eat chocolate (but end up binge eating a bag of chips to avoid the chocolate anyway). The lesson? Just eat the damned Dove bar. [Medical News Today]