Here's one more reason to eat dark chocolate: in a new study, Indiana University Bloomington scientists found that eating dark chocolate may help prevent pancreatic cancer. The reason is dark chocolate contains a good amount of magnesium.
The researchers analyzed information gathered from 66,000 men and women aged 50 to 76 years old who are enrolled in the VITamins and Lifestyle study. They looked for evidence showing a direct relationship between magnesium and pancreatic cancer. They also determined if other factors like age, weight and gender influenced that relationship.
The scientists discovered that decreasing magnesium intake by 100 milligrams daily resulted in a 24 percent increase in the number of pancreatic cancer cases. This relationship did not appear to be influenced by other factors.
"For those at a higher risk of pancreatic cancer, adding a magnesium supplement to their diet may prove beneficial in preventing this disease," Daniel Dibaba, lead study author, said in a news release. "While more study is needed, the general population should strive to get the daily recommendations of magnesium through diet, such as dark, leafy greens or nuts, to prevent any risk of pancreatic cancer."
A hundred grams of dark chocolate contains about 146 milligrams of magnesium.
Study co-author Ka He noted that pancreatic cancer is unique from other forms of cancer, and that its survival rate is low, making "prevention and identifying risk factors or predictors associated with pancreatic cancer very important."
In the U.S., pancreatic cancer accounts for 3 percent of cancer cases and 7 percent of deaths caused by cancer. People face a one in 67 risk of developing pancreatic cancer, but this can be influenced by certain factors like smoking, being overweight, gender and age, according to the American Cancer Society.
The study was published online Dec. 1 in the British Journal of Cancer.
