Is chocolate good or bad for health?

Author : Belinda Lin Source : http://www.cnn.com/ Release on : 2017-06-02 15:54:08

The blood pressure-lowering power of chocolate could be just the beginning. Researchers uncovered other heart benefits in a large analysis of more than 150,000 men and women in the United States, Europe and Australia who reported eating up to 3.5 ounces of chocolate a day. Chocolate consumption was associated with a 21% lower risk of stroke, a 29% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 45% lower risk of dying of heart disease.

Even better news for some, the study found that consuming milk chocolate, often regarded as less healthy than dark chocolate, was also associated with lower risk of heart disease. The authors speculate that ingredients such as calcium in milk chocolate may contribute to this beneficial effect.
Although the authors say the benefits they observed could be due to other foods in the participants' diets, they do at least take the findings to mean that there "does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided in those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk."