Think twice before gorging on dark chocolates

New York, December 26 : If you are eating dark chocolate with a hope that it will protect your heart, think again.

According to an editorial published in renowned British medical journal Lancet, it may not offer you health benefits.

Studies in the past had suggested that dark chocolate is good for the heart. But the editorial said fat, sugar and calories in chocolate trigger illness instead.

Plain chocolate is considered naturally rich in flavanols that is believed to protect the heart and lower blood pressure.

But according to the journal, many manufacturers remove this chemical while producing chocolate because of its bitter taste.

"When chocolate manufacturers make confectionery, the natural cocoa solids can be darkened and the flavanols, which are bitter, removed, so even a dark-looking chocolate can have no flavanol," the online edition of BBC News quoted Lancet as saying.

"Consumers are also kept in the dark about the flavanol content of chocolate because manufacturers rarely label their products with this information," the editorial noted.