Dogs, in particular, face a heightened risk of chocolate poisoning during the Christmas season. The study authors, from the University of Liverpool, hypothesized that these illnesses were clustered around holidays known to feature chocolate: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter and Halloween. (Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP/Getty Images)Sure enough, they found that cases of chocolate poisoning were 4.74 times more common during the Christmas risk period than during less wonderful times of the year. In addition, the risk of chocolate poisoning nearly doubled during the Easter risk period compared with the holiday-free baseline. (Aug. 15, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR) CAPTION The Great American Eclipse The Great American Eclipsekaren.kaplan@latimes.comFollow me on Twitter @LATkarenkaplan and "like" Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 21, 2017 10:52 UTC