The most surprising benefits of eating more chocolate Wine News

In times of stress, sadness, party, happiness, boredom, on Friday night, any night, many of us turn to chocolate to make us smile. But chocolate is not only delicious, it can also be good for your heart’s health.

That’s according to a 2020 study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. The scientists involved followed the results of six previous studies, involving 330,000 participants, and found that those who ate chocolate more than once a week were 8% less likely to have coronary heart disease, a disease that causes heart disease. heart attack.

The study did not assess exactly how much chocolate to consume or whether there was a specific type, dark or milk for example, that provided this protective effect.

Lead author Dr Chayakrit Krittanawong of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas noted that “chocolate contains heart-healthy nutrients such as flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphenols and stearic acid which can reduce inflammation and increase good cholesterol (high density lipoprotein or HDL cholesterol). “

While we wouldn’t tolerate opening the Dairy Milk bar in the cupboard and laughing at everyone, it’s always nice to know that a little square of good quality dark chocolate here and there not only improves our mood, but could have a range of other medicinal benefits, too.

The Potential Health Benefits of Eating Chocolate

1. It’s good for the heart and circulation

The aforementioned study is far from the only one to have found the benefits of chocolate for the heart. A 2014 study of overweight men found that dark chocolate helps restore flexibility to the arteries while preventing white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels, two common causes of blocked arteries leading to seizures. cardiac. The study found that 70g of dark chocolate per day was enough to confer this benefit.

2. It reduces the risk of stroke

In 2021, a research study, which examined 20,951 adults, found that those who reported the highest levels of chocolate consumption experienced lower stroke rates throughout a follow-up period of almost 20 years.

This added to an existing body of work in Correlation. A key study emerged in 2012 when Finnish researchers found that consuming chocolate reduced the risk of having a stroke by a staggering average of 17% in the group of men tested. Again, this was specifically related to dark chocolate and the study found that the greatest benefit was in people who consumed around 63g of dark chocolate each week.