Until fairly recently, a chocolate lover wishing to defend her beloved bar could only snap, "It makes me happy, okay?"

Then came the good news. Chocolate was good for you! Not just not bad for you, or not as bad as other sweets, but really actually healthy!

Chocophiles were cautiously delighted. Their dearest chocolate was health food now?

Well, yes and no.

According to WebMD, two separate studies report different health benefits derived from the consumption of chocolate. One study demonstrates that chocolate can raise antioxidant levels in the blood; the other shows that chocolate can be effective toward lowering high blood pressure.

ScienceDaily describes yet another study, in which chocolate was shown to boost levels of high density lipoprotein -- HDL, or "good" cholesterol -- in the blood. It also slowed down the rate at which low density lipoprotein (LDL -- "bad" cholesterol) oxidized. In other words, in the battle for healthy cholesterol levels, chocolate is a soldier you want on your side.

But don't pick up your credit card and head over to See's just yet. Chocolate candies -- buttercreams, dipped goodies, that bunny you have left over from Easter -- won't do a thing for your health. Not anything you'd want, anyway.

Only dark chocolate will give you the touted benefits. Dark chocolate, also known as sweet, bittersweet, and semisweet. In England it's referred to as plain.

The darker the chocolate -- that is, the higher the cocoa content -- the better for your health. Dark chocolates generally wear their percentages proudly on their labels; if you don't see any such information, it's probably because the manufacturers don't have anything to brag about in that department.

Cocoa powder is also beneficial to the health. But switching from coffee to cocoa every morning isn't the answer. Not if your cocoa is made with milk, anyway, as the best stuff usually is.

The WebMD and ScienceDaily articles agree that having milk anywhere near your chocolate -- drinking it while you eat, eating milk chocolate instead of dark -- will cancel out the health benefits chocolate can confer. Milk proteins apparently bind with the antioxidants in chocolate, so your system won't absorb them.

But as long as it's dark, you can eat your chocolate happily, knowing that you're doing your body a favor -- provided, of course, that the rest of your diet is rich in healthy foods.

Just don't overdo it. And don't decide that you can just have that bar of Special Dark, and skip the broccoli at dinnertime.

Even dark chocolate shouldn't be replacing anything in your diet except junk that shouldn't be there anyway. And just because a little chocolate is healthy doesn't mean that a lot must be extra healthy. Dark chocolate still has sugar and fat, and too much of that isn't good for anyone.