We so often hear the negative aspects of eating too much chocolate, however, a new study shows that it may prevent us from hearing loss in middle age.
It may sound too good to be true as we near Easter Sunday, but doctors in the South Korean capital Seoul found the rate of hearing loss among people aged from 40 to 64 was much lower in those who ate chocolate than among abstainers.
In a study in the scientific journal Nutrients, they report that chemicals called polyphenols found in cocoa have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may protect against hearing damage.
They studied 3,575 middle-aged men and women, giving them hearing tests before they were interviewed about their chocolate consumption.
Researchers found the rate of hearing loss was ‘significantly’ lower in those who ate chocolate, at 26.8 per cent, than in those who did not, at 36 per cent.