Remember what your mama said when you ate too much chocolate? You’ll get cavities, you’ll throw up, it’s not healthy, it’s bad for you. 

She was half right. There is, after all, too much of a good thing, and with Valentine’s Day headed our way, chocolate will be everywhere.

Still, there are some good things about eating the chocolate you get from loved ones, which can have positive emotional and physical effects on your body.

A study on how chocolate can help your heat was conducted by the American Dietetic Association (ADA). Inside of chocolate are antioxidants called flavonoids that  protect against free radicals in the body. Free radicals are suspected of damaging your arteries and triggering the buildup of plaque (a fatty substances) , which can lead to atherosclerosis (a buildup of plaque that sticks to the inner wall of your arteries).

Chocolate can be good for you body, but too much can give you more fat tissue; with 68.8% of America’s population considered obese, we don’t need more fatty foods. The singles could also indulge in chocolate because of being lonely.

There’s another benefit to chocolate: money. According to the U.S Census Bureau, there are 1,148 manufacturing establishments that produce chocolate items, and approximately $13.5 billion spent on shipments by firms producing chocolate and cocoa products. 

So Valentine’s Day can be good for your body and the economy. Now let’s work on making it good for everyone’s self esteem.