Chocolate may lower heart disease risk, study finds

Eating chocolate regularly may lower risk for heart disease, a new study suggests in the British Medical Journal Monday.

The study by researchers at the University of Cambridge found that regular consumption of chocolate may slash the risk of developing heart disease by a third.

The researchers looked into seven studies of nearly 114,000 people and found that people who consumed the most chocolate were 37 percent less likely to develop heart disease and 29 percent less likely to suffer a stroke than those that ate less chocolate.

Chocolate might be beneficial but people should not consume it with the hope that it will reduce their risk of heart disease, given the high sugar and fat content in most chocolate, said lead researcher Dr. Oscar H. Franco.

“Chocolate may be beneficial, but it should be eaten in a moderate way, not in large quantities and not in binges,” he said. “If it is consumed in large quantities, any beneficial effect is going to disappear.”

The benefits probably stem from chocolate's high content in polyphenols, antioxidant compounds that boost the body's production of nitric oxide, which helps reduce blood pressure, the researchers said.