Eat Candy, Live Longer

Is eating candy the secret to longevity? It is for Harvard grads. That's the happy conclusion reached by researchers I-Min Lee, M.D., Ph.D., and Ralph Paffenbarger, Jr. M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, Mass.

In 1988, as part of the Harvard Alumni Health Study, 7,841 men who attended the university between 1916 and 1950 filled out a questionnaire that, among other things, asked how often they ate candy. The results were correlated with the men's death rates.

Men who ate candy at least three times a month—and sometimes up to six times a day—were younger, heavier, ate more red meat, vegetables and green salad, drank more alcohol and were less apt to take supplements. They also were less apt to die—living an average of one year longer than men who did not eat candy.

The study did not differentiate between chocolate and other sweets and researchers speculate it is chocolate, not sugar, that increased the men's life spans. Chocolate is full of antioxidants that protect LDL cholesterol from free radical damage and ultimately may protect the body from disease. A 41-g chunk of chocolate, about the size of a traditional candy bar, also contains the same amount of health-promoting phenols as a glass of red wine.

—British Medical Journal 1998 Dec 19;317:1683-4