Here’s some good news for chocolate lovers. If it seems like many of your favorite foods are off limits while you’re trying to reduce your risk of stroke and heart attack, that’s not the case for cocoa.
In fact, treating yourself to up to 200 grams (gm) of chocolate a week might even give you a boost in heart health according to a study published online June 15 in the journal Heart. That’s equivalent to about one chocolate bar a day, though each bar would also add about 160 calories to your diet. The study does not prove definitively that chocolate promotes cardiovascular health, but the findings suggest it doesn’t hurt either.
“The main message is that eating chocolate in moderation doesn’t seem to harm your cardiovascular health at the general population level,” says study coauthor Phyo Myint, MD, a professor of aging medicine at the University of Aberdeen in the U.K. He cautions, however, that this study was conducted in middle- and older-aged mostly white people and did not account for most medical conditions. The findings may not apply to those with specific health conditions, younger adults, children, or those of other ethnicities.
Diet and Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke Rates
In the study, more than 20,000 participants reported what foods they ate and how often, from less than once a month to up to six times a day. The chocolate items on the list included chocolates squares (about 8 gm), chocolate snack bars (about 50 gm), and hot chocolate (about 12 gm of cocoa powder). The 20 percent of respondents who never ate chocolate formed the bottom fifth of participants’ chocolate consumption.
Results showed that over about a 12-year period:
14 percent of the non-chocolate eaters had coronary heart disease compared to 10 percent of those eating the most chocolate.
5 percent of non-chocolate eaters had strokes, but only 3 percent of the top chocolate eaters did.
Those in the highest chocolate group ate about 16 to 100 gm per day (0.5 to 3.5 ounces), or up to 200 gm a week. That’s equivalent to up to three and a half standard 1-oz bars a week, though individuals’ chocolate eating habits might also have changed over those years, Dr. Myint says.
Overall, after accounting for sex, age, smoking, physical activity, daily calories, alcohol intake, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and having diabetes, the results were even more striking. Those people eating the most chocolate were 12 percent less likely to have coronary heart disease and 23 percent less likely to have a stroke.
Why a Little Chocolate Can Be a Good Thing
Chocolate contains antioxidants, substances that can help protect cells from damage, according to Sarah Samaan, MD, a cardiologist at the Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas.
RELATED: 7 Heart-Healthy Perks of Dark Chocolate
“There is good evidence that the antioxidants known as flavonoids are responsible for chocolate’s health benefits,” Dr. Samaan says, adding that dark chocolate contains the highest levels of flavonoids. “However, since many participants reported consuming milk chocolate, which has much lower levels of these health compounds, there might be other beneficial ingredients.” The authors suggest that perhaps the calcium and milk-based fatty acids found in milk chocolate could have an effect.
Other explanations, however, cast doubt on how beneficial the chocolate itself necessarily is, explains Alice Lichtenstein, DSc, a professor of cardiovascular nutrition at Tufts University in Boston.
“Those people at highest risk for heart disease, or who are overweight, or obese are more likely to avoid chocolate, have recall bias against reporting chocolate intake or under-report intake of chocolate,” Dr. Lichtenstein says.
Those who ate greater amounts of chocolate did tend to have fewer other risks for cardiovascular problems such as a lower BMI, lower hip to waist ratio, lower blood pressure, and more physical activity. They tended to be younger and fewer had diabetes than those who ate less chocolate. But they also tended to be smokers and consume more calories, particularly from fats and carbohydrates.
“Regardless of this study’s findings, if someone enjoys chocolate, it is fine to have a little every day,” Lichtenstein says. “They should choose the type they enjoy the most. No one should start eating chocolate to prevent heart disease.”
The researchers also went through several medical databases to find other studies looking at heart health and chocolate consumption. When they combined the results of the nine they found, with more than 157,000 total participants, they found that people eating more chocolate were 21 to 29 percent less likely to have a stroke or heart disease than those eating less chocolate. In three studies, people were 45 percent less likely to die from heart disease if they ate more chocolate than if they ate less.
The overall findings suggest that substituting chocolate for another snack, such as a bag of chips or a cookie, may be a good option, Samaan says.
“Don’t feel guilty about indulging your chocolate habit, but take fat, calories, and other not-so-healthy ingredients like excess sugar into account,” Samaan says. “And remember that there is no ‘magic bullet’ to prevent heart disease and stroke. Make a chocolate indulgence part of your heart-smart diet and healthy way of life.”
Fuente: www.everydayhealth.com
