In a new study published in the medical journal Circulation Heart Failure, several researchers have looked at the potential link between a healthier heart and light to moderate consumption of high quality chocolate (or in the US, dark chocolate).  Circulation Heart Failure is one of many medical journals that are published by the American Heart Association.

The study

The study made use of data from a 9-year testing period that involved more than 30,000 senior Swedish women that were asked to consume moderate amounts of high quality chocolate daily.

The big difference between the chocolate that the test respondents consumed and the commonly available chocolate we can find on grocery shelves is the amount of actual cocoa present in the chocolate.

Dark chocolate (as it is called in the United States) has a much higher cocoa content than regular commercial chocolate (which also makes it a bit pricier than regular chocolate).

In addition, dark chocolate has also been described as a highly calorie-dense food - this means that it is packed with more calories than ordinary foods.

Researchers M. Mittleman, E. Mostfosky, E. Levitan and A. Wolk made several important discoveries in their study:

1. Women who were able to consume 1 or 2 servings of high quality chocolate were 32% at less risk for heart failure.

2. Women who ate high quality chocolate twice or three times per month were 26% at less risk for heart failure.

3. Women who only ate one serving of high quality chocolate every month did not experience any health benefits at all.

What do these results mean?  Murray Mittleman, the lead scientist in this study sheds light on the issue: if you are going to have a treat, your best choice would be dark chocolate.

However, do not eat too much dark chocolate because that would reduce the protective benefits provided by this food.  Eating too much chocolate can increase your risk for heart problems because of weight gain.

What produces such protective effects?  According to the researchers, it is possible that the large amount of flavonoids or antioxidants present in the high quality chocolate may be the reason why people who ate regular servings of the food were protected from heart failure.

Now, before you hit the store to buy some chocolate, it should be noted that chocolates produced in the United States generally have more sugar and calories compared to the flavonoids that you are going to get from eating the chocolate - so the health benefits might be reduced a bit.

Another study from Germany seemed to confirm the former study.  According to Brian Buijsse MD from the German Institute of Human Nutrition, people can actually reduce their risk of strokes and heart attack by as much as 85% when they have regular servings of dark chocolate.

Sources:
sciencedaily.com
sciencedaily.com