More fuel for those who like to fool themselves. It may well be that small amounts of dark chocolate, red wine, beer, coffee, cheese, or even bacon may be beneficial, or at least not harmful. Inevitably, as news of the latest dietary "discovery" is passed by word of mouth, the caution to be moderate in one's consumption gets conveniently omitted; by the time the news is relayed a few times, it becomes simply "chocolate is good for you, woo hoo!"
I still remember, a few years ago, hearing a radio news story to the effect that moderate consumption of alcohol may be beneficial. "Three or four drinks..." the announcer was saying; it was sounding like great news for me till he finished the sentence, "... per week, may be good for your heart." I was happy for a few seconds, anyway.
Personally, I favor the "cafeteria style" approach to diet plans. I just select my favorite elements from each of several plans, and ignore what I don't like. Let's see, the high-carb plan says a baked potato and bread are fine; and Atkins says I can have a steak, and maybe some butter and cheese to put on that potato; the Mediterranian Diet says red wine is permitted; yeah, chocolate like this study suggests; plenty of coffee...
A tip for low-carbohydrate eaters: get used to the taste of unsweetened chocolate (bakers' chocolate, in the baking section of the grocery story). It has a lot more theobromine for one thing, and zero carbs. An easy, very-low carb dessert: walnuts or almonds in a bowl, covered with half-and-half, and 1/2 oz shredded bakers' chocolate. Also good shredded over grapefruit. I just eat bars of it sometimes because I love chocolate but don't want the sugar.
