THE BENEFITS OF SOME CHOCOLATE

A few months ago, a study of 50,000 people revealed that eating a bar of chocolate a week decreased the risk of having a stroke. But remember that eating too much chocolate can definitely have a negative effect. This was shown recently in a study that showed that the more chocolate you eat, the more depressed you get. So chocolate seems to be a good addition to your diet, but only in controlled moderation.

ARE MULTIVITAMINS NECESSARY?

Multivitamin pills have been around since the 1930's, growing in popularity ever since to become a huge multi-billion dollar industry in itself. While these nutritional supplements make sense in theory, there is little evidence that they are actually necessary. In fact with a third to half of Americans using them, people certainly haven't become healthier as a population. A few recent studies have shown that they don't prevent diseases such as cancer and heart disease. One such study from 2009 "found no significant differences in risk of cancer, heart disease or death between the multivitamin users and non-users." Another study found that men who took more than one multivitamin a day "were 32% are more likely to develop advanced prostate cancer and 98% more likely to die from the disease." And most recently, research from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "found a link between taking multivitamins and increased risk of breast cancer." With all this in mind, it seems that multivitamins are not necessarily good for you and could potentially be harmful. Just remember, nature has already provided us with the best way to get your essential vitamins and minerals: a balanced diet, with a wide variety of whole foods, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains.