Chocolate bar in silver foil in woman's palms.gettyTwo months ago, I wrote about recent research indicating that drinking coffee could be good for ones healthresulting in a statistically significant decrease in mortality. (Caveat: The health benefits occur if one drinks coffee in the mornings, as opposed to spreading it throughout the day.)I am now pleased to report that two more itemsdark chocolate and placeboscan also be good for ones health.An international group of researchers based in Boston and China studied over 190,000 people for an average of 25 years, tracking chocolate consumption and incidence of Type 2 diabetes. They discovered that after adjusting for personal, lifestyle, and dietary risk factors, participants who consumed 5 or more servings of chocolate a week had a 10% lower rate of developing Type 2 diabetes than those who consumed little or no chocolate. (For the purpose of the study, a serving was defined as 1 ounce of chocolate.)Interestingly, the benefit was restricted to those who consumed predominantly dark chocolate, who experienced whopping 21% decrease in developing Type 2 diabetes. There was no significant health benefit for those consuming milk chocolate. Furthermore, they noted that, Increased consumption of milk, but not dark, chocolate was associated with long term weight gain.The exact mechanism is not fully understood, but one likely explanation is that dark chocolate is especially high in compounds called flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and might help to open blood vessels.Researchers are also gaining greater appreciation for the health benefits of the humble placebotraditionally used as a control medication in randomized clinical trials. As reported by Washington Post writer Marlene Cimons, clinicians are finding that patients with intractable pain can benefit from so-called open-label use of placebos, in which patients are fully informed that the pill they are taking is a placebo. Multiple studies have shown that placebos can help with certain conditions that dont consistently respond to more traditional therapies, including back pain, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, and menopausal hot flashes.A recent study published in 2024 showed that open-label injection of saline into the superficial soft tissues of the lower back could help patients with back pain. As part of the protocol, the patients were treated in an empathetic, supporting environment, designed to improve emotional comfort: Participants changed into a medical gown, and a subcutaneous injection described as saline with no active medication was administered at the site of the greatest back pain. The researchers found that a single saline injection led to significant improvements in pain intensity, mood, and sleep at 1 month posttreatment compared with usual care. Some patients experienced benefits lasting as long a year.Again, the exact mechanism of the pain relief caused by placebos is not fully understood. A 2024 research paper indicates that the relief is likely modulated by cells in a portion of the brain called the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). The researchers suggest that physicians can improve pain relief by targeting that particular neural pathway with selective drugs or neurostimulation.I love the fact that dark chocolate, coffee, and placebos have all been shown to help people in a measurable way. Clearly, these are all areas amenable for further research. As one possible avenue of exploration, I leave it to others to discover if placebo chocolates (or placebo coffee) can yield similar health benefits as the real thing!