Chocolate may lower stroke risk in men

According to a new study from Sweden, men who regularly eat chocolate may be reducing their risk of having a stroke. Try telling that to the missus the next time you eat the last bar...

You might be afraid to eat the last chocolate bar in the fridge in case the missus pulls an absolute ‘freaker’, but now you can tell her that it’s for the good of your health – well, sort of. That’s because a study from Sweden suggests that men who eat chocolate on a regular basis may actually be decreasing their risk of having a stroke, without even knowing it.

The researchers followed 37,000 men for over a decade and they found that those who ate the most chocolate had a 17 per cent lower risk of stroke than men who avoided chocolate.

So how much chocolate did these lads eat? The researchers noted that the men who indulged in chocolate would eat the equivalent of one third of a cup of chocolate chips (around 40g) per day.

But what's so great about chocolate all of a sudden? "The beneficial effect of chocolate consumption on stroke may be related to the flavonoids in chocolate," wrote Susanna Larsson, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, who led the study.

However, we wouldn’t recommend that you go getting your flavonoids solely from chocolate.

Richard Libman, vice chair of neurology at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute in Manhasset, New York said, "It's very important for people to take the news on chocolate with a grain of salt.

"You can't start advising people to eat chocolate based on this. Think of the negative effects that could result, like obesity and type 2 diabetes."

He’s got a fair point there...