However carefully we watch our diet for the rest of the year, the holidays tend to be a time when we all fall off the wagon and eat the “bad stuff” we have avoided all year long and more of it too. This can be especially true when it comes to chocolate. It seems like it shows up wherever you turn all season long, and it is so terribly hard to resist.

So the news this week that a recent study has shown that dark chocolate can actually help relieve stress will probably have many people indulging with a little less guilt. But how much chocolate is OK to eat and how does it help reduce stress?
In the course of the study, which was published in The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that there was indeed a significant reduction in the number of stress hormones and other stress related biochemical changes amongst a group of volunteers who identified themselves as highly stressed and ate dark chocolate on a daily basis for two weeks.

This is far from the first time that a study has demonstrated that health benefits can be associated with the moderate consumption of dark chocolate. It is believed that it is the flavnols present in the cocoa used to create that confections that do the trick; they are a powerful antioxidant. There is also evidence that dark chocolate, like red wine, contains resveratrol, another much-hyped antioxidant.

But not all chocolate is created equal. By adding milk the antioxidant effects of the flavnols are effectively cancelled out, so eating milk chocolate does not offer the health benefits that dark chocolate does. And there is a growing concern about the levels of lead found in some commercially processed dark chocolates. It is believed that this is probably caused either by the manufacturing process itself or somewhere in the shipping, but it is recommended that for maximum health benefits you stick to organically grown unprocessed dark chocolate. Many such varieties can be found at your local health food store. Keep in mind, however, that eating a bar a day is overkill--after all it has less sugar than milk chocolate but the stuff is still there. A few chunks a day is all you really need to gain the maximum benefit.