subject: Eating Chocolate May Reduce The Risk Of Suffering From Heart Disease [print this page] Brian led the research group from German Institute of Human Nutrition to carry out a follow-up survey for 10 years. About 1.9 million people aged from 35 to 65 years old were participated in this survey. All the respondents have no history of heart disease, similar habits such as smoking body building. Above all, the average Body Mass Index in their body is close. The researchers asked respondents to fill investigation questionnaires, which include ways of diet, lifestyle and health questionnaire. At the same time, the number of chocolate they ate and the frequency are also included in this investigation questionnaire, but the types of chocolate they consumed are not distinguished. The researchers then surveyed the data on heart attack, stroke or death among the respondents. The results show that the blood pressure of respondents who has a daily consumption of 7.5 grams of chocolate on average is lower than people who eat 1.7 grams of chocolate every day. Meanwhile, the risk of suffering heart attack lowers by 39% and risk of suffering stroke lowers by almost half.
The researchers believe that flavonols from cocoa in chocolate are the material which plays an important role on lowering blood pressure and keeping heart health. As dark chocolate is rich in cocoa, eating dark chocolate may be more effective. By the way, flavonols also present in some vegetables and red wine. Previous studies have shown that eating a small amount of dark chocolate may be good to health. In the progress of investigation, the researchers only put the emphasis on respondents, but did not test their responses when eating chocolate directly. So the researchers believe, it need further study to discover the impact on human body from chocolate. "It is too early to recommend people to eat more chocolate," Brian said, but eating a small piece of dark chocolate instead of candy or high-fat snacks will be healthy.
Some nutrition and heart disease experts believe that the results of this study dont entirely convince people. Robert Eckel, former president of the American Heart Association and Professor of Medicine from University of Colorado, said it surprises me when I hear a small amount of chocolate has the protective effect, but more researches are needed to confirm this result. He said: " This is not a recipe, If people eat small chocolate every day, the weight would be increased several kilograms in several months.
