Eating dark chocolate may help lower blood pressure, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) (2003, Vol.290, No.8:1029). Researchers conducted a randomized clinical trial on 14 individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 with mild untreated hypertension. Half of the patients consumed 3-ounce dark chocolate bars containing 500 milligrams of Polyphenols every day for two weeks. The other half of the participants ate the same amount of white chocolate for the duration. Blood pressure remained unchanged in the white chocolate group. In the dark chocolate group, however, blood pressure had dropped an average of five points. Researchers concluded that while blood pressure did not drop to a desirable range, the results indicate that dark chocolate could be a promising approach to reducing hypertension.