1479 Cheerio

I was looking at an ad the other day for Cheerios. Cheerios, being made of oats, has long touted its heart healthiness. This ad was doing the same thing. There was a big heart popping out of the bowl with a caption on it that read, "May reduce the risk of heart disease."
Not a real heart, one of those valentine hearts. A real heart, aorta and pulmonary arteries dripping thick red fluid, would have been way too unappetizing bulging out of a bowl of Cheerios.
"I say, what’s that organ doing sticking out of my breakfast bowl? Is this something like kidney pie? Cheerio!"
What got me about this particular heart-healthy box of Cheerios was that it wasn't a box of ordinary Cheerios. It was a box of the new Chocolate Cheerios.
But here's the funny thing. They're right. According to some recent research, chocolate is heart-healthy too. Moderate amounts of chocolate every day do help your heart.
But it has to be dark chocolate. Dark chocolate contains flavonoids, which act as antioxidants, mopping up free radicals. The kind of free radicals you get when you eat milk, sugar, and butter.
So the dark chocolate ought to be as pure as possible. I'm guessing that lets out truffles...
It also means that one of the crucial ingredients in chocolate bars, that undoes the heart-healthy benefits of the dark chocolate, is milk.
So by all means have your Chocolate Cheerios. Just eat them with, um, water.
Better yet. I hear red wine has lots of antioxidants too. What better way to start the day than a bowl of chocolate and wine. Make your heart feel good...and everything else too.
Science is great.
Now that puts the cheer in cheerio.
America, ya gotta love it.