Eating dark chocolate may reduce stress hormones, according to recent research.
Apparently, the chocolate cravings, especially in stressful situations, could be justified, after all: according to new research, eating dark chocolate can reduce stress hormones in people who feel stressed.

According to a study by a group of Swiss and German scientists, found that eating a chocolate bar a day (1.4 ounces) for two weeks reduces the levels of the hormone cortisol, linked with stress.
Recently there have been some findings concerning the potential health benefit that is dark chocolate, for example, has determined that cocoa contains high levels of a class of antioxidants called flavonoids, which have been linked to a number of benefits health.
It also is investigating other compounds in dark chocolate may offer health benefits such as improving insulin sensitivity, reduce blood pressure and improve mood.

For the study, we measured the effects of ingesting 40 grams of dark chocolate daily for two weeks. We used 30 healthy adult volunteers. Half of the chocolate (20 grams) was eaten mid-morning and the other half (20 grams), mid-afternoon. During the two weeks of the study, they took blood and urine samples to measure levels of stress hormones.

Anxiety levels of the participants were determined at baseline, and collected blood and urine samples for analysis at the beginning and end of the study.
The results showed that eating dark chocolate every day reduced levels of stress hormone in subjects with high levels of anxiety. They also showed that dark chocolate appears to have beneficial effects on metabolism of participants and microbial activity in the intestine.

The study was conducted by researchers at the Nestle Research Center in Lausanne, Switzerland, and published in the Journal of Proteome Research.
Although this study involved a fairly small sample, also offers evidence that dark chocolate has benefits.