The University of Illinois and Mars Inc. developed a study, which determined that cholesterol and blood pressure are lowered when consumers eat sterol chocolate as part of a balanced diet. The double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study provided one group of 24-70 year-olds with Mars Inc. sterol-imbued CocoaVia chocolate bars and the other group with identical bars except for the sterol. The sterol chocolate bars lowered total cholesterol by 2%, LDL cholesterol by 5.3% and blood pressure by 5% in the eight-week trial.