A life-saving chocolate bar?

Filed in archive News on July 26, 2005

Mars is looking to introduce a heathy chocolate bar:

After 15 years and more than $10 million worth of studies, Mars said it had developed hundreds of compounds that copy the aspirin-like blood-thinning properties of cocoa flavanols.

"We know we have an interesting and powerful property that would help people," said Mars Chief Science Officer Dr Harold Schmitz.

"In order for these to be developed we need a big partner...It takes not tens of million but hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a product to market."

He declined to say which companies Mars is in talks with.

"The mounting scientific evidence is extraordinary," said Dr Norm Hollenberg, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, which has collaborated with Mars on cocoa research.

"This is a scientific breakthrough that could well lead to a medical breakthrough."

(Wason, "Candy good for you? Mars to probe cocoa benefits", Reuters, Jul.25)