Eating dark chocolate can improve a person's eyesight

A new study claims that just a small amount of dark chocolate is beneficial for vision as it can help to correct the function of blood vessels.

Boffins in Italy conducted a test on 20 healthy adults, with an average age of 24, who were either given 20 grams of dark chocolate or 7.5 grams of milk chocolate.

Two hours after eating, those who had tucked into the dark chocolate had their retinal blood flow expanded by four per cent whereas the figure was only 2.75 per cent for the milk chocolate eaters.

Professor Giuseppe Querques, of the Universita Vita-Salute San Raffaele in Milan, said: "The most surprising thing was that a relatively small dose of dark chocolate can modify the motility and dilation of retinal vessels.

"(This discovery could be important because) it opens up an important scenario on the potential use of cocoa in the prevention of retinal diseases and its possible systemic effects."

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