Good news for chocolate lovers – darker is better.

According to Dr. Dirk Taubert, a professor at the University of Cologne in Germany, dark chocolate lowers high blood pressure.

The report indicates eating more dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure only if you have reached a certain age and have mildly high blood pressure. The study also recommended balancing the extra calories from the chocolate by eating less of other things.

Virginia Owens, a freshman pre-computer science major, said she, like many other NIU students, enjoys a good piece of chocolate.

“I would eat dark chocolate if I knew it was good for me,” Owens said.

Laura Houston, a junior media studies major, agrees.

“I try to stay away from any kind of chocolate in general,” Houston said. “But if I knew that dark chocolate was good for me over any kind of chocolate, then maybe I would try it.”

According to another study by Dr. Mauro Serafini of Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research, dark chocolate – not milk chocolate — is a potent antioxidant. The antioxidant “gobbles up free radicals, destructive molecules” related to heart disease.

Ellen Parham, an NIU professor of coordinating nutrition and dietetics, said students should eat the kind of chocolate they like.

“Eat the kind of chocolate that makes you satisfied,” Parham said. “Even if dark chocolate does have good features, it is still a pretty high-calorie food in saturated fat.”

Tom Smith, owner of DeKalb’s Confectionary, said students at his store eat more milk chocolate than dark chocolate.

“Students buy more milk chocolate than dark chocolate,” Smith said. “They are used to it, but once they try our dark chocolate, they convert.”

Smith said dark chocolate is taken for granted.

“Many people don’t realize what good dark chocolate tastes like,” Smith said. “Once they are introduced to it, they like it.”

Parham believes people should not eat high quantities of any kind of chocolate.

“One cannot afford to eat large quantities of chocolate,” Parham said. “If you are going to eat chocolate, eat the kind you enjoy. If you are not satisfied with dark chocolate, don’t worry; it is still a treat.”