#Eating chocolate weekly cuts risk of heart disease, study says

There is good news for chocoholics, who can cut the risk of heart disease by indulging at least once a week, according to new research.

A study of 336,289 people found that consuming chocolate more than once a week reduced the risk of developing coronary heart disease by 8 percent when compared to those who eat it less frequently, the Standard reported.

“Our study suggests that chocolate helps keep the heart’s blood vessels healthy,” said the study’s author, Dr. Chayakrit Krittanawong of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

The researchers combined six studies to study the link between chocolate consumption and coronary heart disease, a condition in which the arteries become blocked by a build-up of fatty substances.

They said nutrients in chocolate — including flavonoids, methylxanthines, polyphenols and stearic acid — may reduce inflammation and increase good cholesterol.

But Krittanawong had a caveat.

“Moderate amounts of chocolate seem to protect the coronary arteries but it’s likely that large quantities do not,” he said.

“The calories, sugar, milk and fat in commercially available products need to be considered, particularly in diabetics and obese people,” Krittanawong added.

The participants, who were from the US, Sweden and Australia, had an average follow-up time of about nine years in the studies that spanned the past five decades.

The analysis — published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology Research — found that 14,043 of the participants developed coronary heart disease.

Compared with eating chocolate less than once a week, consuming it regularly more than once a week was associated with an 8 percent lower risk of the disease, the authors said.

The study did not consider whether any particular kind of chocolate is better, or whether there is an ideal portion size.