Stunning Health News About Hot Cocoa

August 20, 2006

Sweet! Hot cocoa really is good for you. Sip a steaming mug of hot cocoa and

you'll get more disease-fighting antioxidants per cup than a similar serving

of red wine

or tea, report researchers from Cornell University.

Cocoa's antioxidants are almost two times stronger than red wine, two to

three times stronger than

green tea, and four to five times stronger than black tea, reports Science

Daily. Antioxidants--vitamins C

and E and beta carotene--are widely believed to fight cancer, heart disease,

and aging. They may even

help stave off the memory-robbing Alzheimer's disease.

The Cornell study is the most extensive comparison yet of the total

antioxidant content of cocoa, wine,

and tea, arguably the world's most popular drinks after water. There's just

one problem with all this:

Scientists know antioxidants are essential for our good health and longevity,

but they don't yet know

how much we need every day.

If you want to get your antioxidant dose from something sweet, there is

nothing better than hot cocoa.

And the key word here is " hot. " Lead study author Chang Yong Lee says hot is

better than cold. For

some reason, when cocoa is heated, more antioxidants are released than when

it's cold. Don't want the

fat and extra sugar of hot cocoa? Use skim or soy milk instead of whole milk

and an artificial sweetener

instead of sugar.

The study findings appear in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

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