Eating This One Surprising Food Could Finally Cure Your Cough

Say “hello!” to a remedy that’s much sweeter than cough medicine

Getting rid of a persistent cough is no easy task, especially if you want to avoid a trip to the pharmacy. But if you’re in a pinch, forget about honey and lemon. We have one natural cough remedy that even a picky eater can get behind: Chocolate.

That’s right, chocoholics! Chowing down on this delicious dessert can soothe your cough – no medicine required. (This is the real reason you should stop taking cough medicine.)

But that’s not the only health benefit of chocolate…

According to Professor Alyn Morice, a leading expert in cough and respiratory medicine, chocolate is a more effective cough suppressant than codeine syrup. In a new study that compared the two remedies, patients who ate the sweet stuff showed significant improvements in their cough symptoms within two days.

There are two major factors behind our next cough cure. Cocoa naturally contains an ingredient called theobromine, which research has shown can relieve chronic coughing. Plus, when the melted treat forms a sticky coating in your throat, it protects the nerve endings that cause you to cough, experts say.

“Coughing is a medical condition, which affects most people at some point in their lives, and yet no effective treatment exists,” researcher Peter Barnes, a professor at the Imperial College London, said in a news release. “While persistent coughing is not necessarily harmful, it can have a major impact on quality of life, and this discovery could be a huge step forward in treating this problem.”

All the more reason to pop a piece of chocolate the next time your throat feels scratchy.

Here are more natural cough remedies that may already be in your pantry.