How to fight heart disease with dark chocolate and red wine

What you need to know about the effects of dark chocolate and red wine on your cardiovascular system:

Dark Chocolate

• Dark chocolate with a cocoa bean content of 70% or more contains flavonoids that actually reduce blood pressure and act as antioxidants in your system. But while the dark chocolate is good for your heart, it does contain calories, and excess weight can be bad for your heart. Don't forget that each little square of dark chocolate has about 30 calories and the calories can add up if you eat too many. Limit yourself to one square a day, if possible.
• Dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate because it has a higher concentration of the cocoa beans that provide the benefits.

Red Wine

• Red wine also contains the same antioxidant properties as dark chocolate, but again you have to be careful to consume it in moderation. High fat and high sugar-content foods release free radicals that can get into your blood plaque and cause rupture of vessels and arteries. The anti-oxidants in red wine (and dark chocolate) stabilize the free radicals.
• One to two glasses is the maximum amount you should consume to get the benefits without adding too many extra calories. And remember: A "glass" in this example contains about 6 ounces of wine...
• While white wine is O.K., it does not contain as many antioxidants as red.