Chocolate can protect the middle-aged against hearing loss, a new study has found.

South Korean doctors studied two groups of people, aged between 40 and 64: one group included people who eat chocolate and another made up of abstainers.

The findings indicated that those who eat chocolate have their hearing damage risk "significantly" lower than those who don't.

The study, published in the scientific journal Nutrients, concludes that chemicals called polyphenols, found in cocoa, have strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that may protect against hearing damage.