| by Thomas Williams |

Have you ever heard your mom or dad tell you to eat vegetables if you wanna grow? The unyielding truth is it can come from something as simple as chocolate, more specifically dark chocolate.

A recent study done at Harvard University shows data that the cocoa beans, added with the other ingredients stimulate growth in teens ages 13-18. Dr. Elliot Joseph, who conducted the study, writes that the study has been proven successful after a month of testing. Although most of the sample size was male, the effects did apply to some females. There were two sample sizes, each made up of 50, one control group, and one experimental group. Each of these groups had an equal variety of male and female teens from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Each participant in the experimental group was instructed to eat a piece of dark chocolate every day; the brand didn’t matter as long as it was strictly dark chocolate. The data that was collected was astonishing. The data showed that the experimental group had a logarithmic growth pattern as they grew an average of 2 inches more than the the control group in the month and then remained constant after the experiment concluded. The control group had a stagnant growth pattern with little to no growth.

This is just one of the many benefits dark chocolate has been proven to have. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), dark chocolate’s rich source of antioxidants and minerals have been associated with lower risk of heart disease, reduced inflammation and insulin resistance, and improved brain function. This is just the beginning as we continue to research the hidden health and growth benefits cocoa may bring to us in the future.