More good news for chocolate lovers: New research says those who indulge cut their risk of dying from heart disease.
The study — published in the Journal of Internal Medicine — looked at 1,169 patients aged 45 to 70, who’d had at least one heart attack. Researchers in Sweden and in the US questioned the patients about their diets, then monitored them for about eight years.
The findings: That there was a definite link between fatal heart attacks and chocolate consumption, with the cocoa consumers being three times less likely to die.
“Our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds,” the researchers wrote, according to the UK’s The Telegraph.
The study’s co-author, Dr. Kenneth Mukamal of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, cautioned The Telegraph that the study wasn’t a green light to go sugar-mad.
“[The findings were] specific to chocolate — we found no benefit to sweets in general,” he said.
If you’re already planning just how much chocolate you can cram into a day (hmm, pain au chocolat for breakfast, peanut-butter and Nutella sandwich for lunch … ), think again. Patients who got the most benefit ate chocolate about twice per week in moderation. Darn!