Can chocolate really lower heart risks?

Chocaholics rejoiced when a new study of nearly 21,000 people found that those who ate 16 to 100 grams of chocolate a day had a decreased risk of heart disease and stroke.

Researchers looked at the food habits of people over 12 years, and found that those who ate higher amounts of chocolate weighed less and exercised regularly.

They also had lower blood pressure and other factors that point to a lowered risk of developing heart disease.

As a result, researchers concluded that eating more chocolate is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease

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Ultimately, “there does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided in those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk,” the researchers noted.

But this is just an observational study meaning it doesn’t prove a causal relationship and scientists didn’t monitor each subject during the research.

It also doesn’t claim that eating chocolate can improve your heart health, just that it may lower your risk of developing heart disease.

Study author Phyo Myint, MD, tells Yahoo Health that the key takeaway from his findings should be that “having chocolate in moderation is OK and may not produce any harmful effect with regard to cardiovascular disease.”

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However, he also points out that there may be some people who don’t benefit at all from eating chocolate, and that there were a lot of variables of the study that were outside of the researchers’ control .

But surely eating two bars per day (the amount in the study) can’t be healthy?

It’s not, says dietitian Kate Patton. “I would not put this in practice or have anybody follow this in any way, shape, or form,” she tells Yahoo Health.

“That portion size is way too large it could cause more harm than benefit.”

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According to Patton, previous research has found several links between the added sugar and fat you’d ingest by eating that much chocolate, and negative health repercussions.

Of course, chocolate isn’t all bad for you, says dietitian Jill Weisenberger, author of The Overworked Person’s Guide to Better Nutrition. You just shouldn’t be eating that much of it.

She tells Yahoo Health that the flavonols in certain forms of chocolate are associated with a healthy brain and heart.

She recommends having no more two-thirds of a bar per day of 70 per cent or more dark chocolate, as that’s the type that contains the highest amount of flavonols.