Longevity?

February 6th, 2016| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

Well, you can forget that old dictum about avoiding chocolate as being bad for you. Go ahead and eat chocolate, folks, you will live longer.

Praise the Lord!

Heart (an imprint of the British Medical Journal) published a study last year that found that eating up to 100 grams (about 4 ounces, a quarter pound!) helps lower risk of heart disease and strokes. Wow! A quarter pound of chocolate. That’s 20 Hershey’s kisses!

“Habitual Chocolate Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease among Healthy Men and Women,” by researchers from the Universities of Aberdeen, Manchester, Cambridge, Amsterdam, etc. put out this earth-shaking (to me, at least) finding some time last year. It surveyed 21,000 adults in Norfolk, U.K., employing food and lifestyle questionnaire, monitoring them for almost 12 years. In that period, about 3,000 of the subjects (14%) had a heart-related episode or a stroke. Consumption of chocolate in amounts closer to 100 grams was associated with younger age and lower BMI, lower blood pressure, less frequent diabetes, and more physical activity, etc., all of which added up to an 11% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a 25% lower risk of associated death, and a 9% lower risk of hospital admission as a result of heart disease. Not to mention a 23% lower risk of stroke.

Needless to say, observational studies such as this cannot really draw solid conclusions about cause and effect. And, of course, there may also be “reverse causation” at work—those who, in the first place, had a higher cardiovascular risk profile avoiding chocolates.

Nonetheless, the authors conclude:

Cumulative evidence suggests that higher chocolate intake is associated with a lower risk of future cardiovascular events. … There does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided in those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk.”

That’s good enough for me. Bring on the chocolate—I wanna live longer!

Wait … I don’t.

Nope, I don’t care to live a long life. I’m ready to leave. Now.

For sure, my schedules are filled for the rest of the year. I’ve got things to do, books to write, people to meet, places to go. All of which I will work hard at, Deo volente.

But a better thing, by a long shot, would be getting outta here. Maybe Jesus will come soon. Or I will go to him. Either way, fine.

The presence of the Lord! Bliss! (Yup, even better than chocolate.)

That was Paul’s desire:

We are of good courage, I say,
and prefer rather to be absent from the body
and to be at home with the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:8

Amen!

And He [Jesus] said to him [the thief on the cross],
“Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:43

That’s it. It’s either here or Paradise. That’s a no-brainer, chocolate or no.

I’m not sure how to reconcile this with consuming more chocolate. I’m just going to eat my 100 grams every day and take my chances.

But I am hard-pressed from both directions
[stay here and eat chocolate, but],
having the desire to depart and be with Christ.
Philippians 1:23

Hey, and for those who yearn to go “Home” there is a special reward.

In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,
which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day;
and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8

No idea what the crown actually is, but it is likely to be better than chocolate, don’t you think?