Nibble on Chocolate for Lower Heart Attack, Stroke Risks

March 30, 2010 -- Just in time for the Easter Bunny’s arrival, researchers
have more sweet news about chocolate and heart disease.
A new study suggests that eating a small piece of chocolate every day may
reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke.
Researchers in Germany say that people who ate the equivalent of one square
of a 100 gram (3.5 oz) chocolate bar per day had a 39% lower risk of having
heart attack or stroke than people who ate much less chocolate.
But before you stock up on chocolate Easter eggs, researchers warn that the
key to reaping the health benefits of chocolate is moderation. A single
100-gram bar of chocolate contains about 500 calories, and eating too much can
contribute to unhealthy weight gain.
“Small amounts of chocolate may help to prevent heart disease, but only if
it replaces other energy-dense food, such as snacks, in order to keep body
weight stable,�? researcher Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at the
German Institute of Human Nutrition in Nuthetal, Germany, says in a news
release.
 
 
 
 




Slideshow:
The Sweet History of Chocolate

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