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One of my favorite past times is not only eating chocolate, but reporting on it.

Recently, for instance, I reported on a myth-busting study finding chocolate burns belly fat, as well as improves cholesterol. Before that I reported on research indicating that the medicinal properties of chocolate are so powerful that this treat gives the 29 billion dollar statin drug industry a run for its money as far as protecting you from the #1 cause of death in the Western world.

No doubt, chocolate lovers are reveling in the fact that their love affair with this irresistible treat is increasingly being officially sanctified by today’s lab coat wearing priestly caste. After all, many folks suffer from a love/hate relationship with chocolate; ambivalent over their habitual consumption of something still generally considered to be ‘candy,’ and indeed is still placed in the candy aisle of institutions such as grocery stores and pharmacies.

Now, a new observational study published in the journal Nutrition, confirms that chocolate consumption may have significant health benefits. The European study titled, “Association between chocolate consumption and fatness in European adolescents,” found a higher chocolate consumption was associated with lower total and central fatness in European adolescents.