You may now relish the taste of your favourite chocolate daily, as a new study has found that having a small piece of bar everyday helps lower blood pressure and reduces risk of heart disease.
A team of German researchers have found that those who eat an average of 7.5 grams of chocolate per day have lower blood pressure and a 39 per cent lower risk of having a heart attack in comparison to those who have only 1.7 grams of the bar on an average per day.
For their study the researchers followed 19,357 people -- aged between 35 and 65, for 8 years. The participants were divided into two groups: one who have around 7.5 grams of chocolate per day and other who have lesser amount -- 1.7 grams, according to the report in the European Heart Journal.
The difference in the amount of chocolate intake between the two groups was six grams -- equivalent to less than one small square of a 100g bar.
During the course of study, the team observed that there were 166 heart attacks (24 fatal) and 136 strokes (12 fatal).
People in the top quartile had a 27 per cent reduced risk of heart attacks and nearly half -- 48 per cent -- the risk of strokes, compared with those in the lowest quartile.
In the low-eating group, 219 of 10,000 volunteers suffered a heart attack or stroke.
Lead researcher Dr Brian Buijsse from German Institute of Human Nutrition, said: "To put it in terms of absolute risk, if people in the group eating the least amount of chocolate increased their chocolate intake by six grams a day, 85 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 10,000 people could be expected to occur over a period of about ten years."
Researchers believe that flavanols in cocoa may be the reason why chocolate appear to be good for blood pressure and heart health.
"Flavanols appear to be the substances in cocoa that are responsible for improving the bio availability of nitric oxide from the cells that line the inner wall of blood vessels -- vascular endothelial cells," said Buijsse.
"Nitric oxide is a gas that, once released, causes the smooth muscle cells of the blood vessels to relax and widen; this may contribute to lower blood pressure.
"It also improves platelet function, making the blood less sticky, and makes the vascular endothelium less attractive for white blood cells to attach and stick around."
The author concludes: "Given these and other promising health effects of cocoa, it is tempting to indulge more in chocolate. Small amounts of chocolate, however, may become part of a diet aimed to prevent CVD (cardiovascular disease) only after confirmation by other observational studies and particularly by randomised trials."
However, Buijsse warned that it was important people ensured that eating chocolate did not increase their overall intake of calories or reduce their consumption of healthy foods.
"Small amounts of chocolate may help prevent heart disease, but only if it replaces other energy-dense food, such as snacks, in order to keep body weight stable," he said.
He warned, "100g of dark chocolate contains roughly 500 calories. As such, you may want to subtract an equivalent amount of calories, by cutting back on other foods, to avoid weight gain."
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