Could Chocolate Reduce Your Risk of Stroke?
May 19th, 2010 | by Fiona |Good news for chocoholics - researchers recently revealed that eating a bar of chocolate a week could help prevent strokes. The Canadian scientists looked at the diets of 50,000 people and found that those who ate chocolate were almost a quarter (22%) less likely to suffer a stroke than the non-chocolate eaters. The further good news is that the chocolate eaters who DID have a stroke were almost half (46%) as likely to die as a result than the seemingly more abstemious non-chocolate eaters.
The scientists are inclined to put these favourable findings down to chocolate’s flavonoid content. Flavonoids are antioxidants which have been shown in a number of studies to have heart-protective effects. Of course, the researchers were quick to stress that more research was needed, and that their results do not give us carte blanche to gorge on chocolate, which can also be high in sugar and processed fats. Nonetheless, it seems that good quality chocolate, lower in sugar and higher in cocoa solids, can offer some protection to your heart as well as putting a smile on your face.
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