Dark chocolate offerings have premium shelf placement these days. In fact, I just mailed a pound of dark chocolate to my mother-in-law for her birthday. But with all the chatter of the healthy antioxidants and phytochemicals in the dark stuff, a new study of older adults indicates dark chocolate and cocoa don't necessarily make you any healthier.

Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, healthy older adults were randomly assigned to receive a dark chocolate bar and an 8 oz artificially sweetened cocoa beverage or similar placebos each day for six weeks. Baseline, midpoint and end-of-treatment assessments failed to support predicted beneficial effects on any of the neuropsychological or cardiovascular variables considered by the research.

Even worse, short-term consumption of dark chocolate and cocoa was associated with significantly higher pulse rates at the midpoint and end-of-treatment assessments. Darn!