Confessions of a Chocoholic

Is your guilty pleasure chocolate? Have you ever day-dreamt about biting into a delicately rich, creamy, and mouth-watering piece of chocolate but worry about how it may be bad for you? If so, you no longer have to feel relentlessly guilty about causing harm to your health! New studies, building on previous research are now suggesting that consuming chocolate may be associated with a 33% decrease in the risk of heart disease – a disease  predicted to kill 23.6 million people in the next 14 years. I don’t know about you, but I am seriously contemplating about clearing out the whole chocolate aisle at my grocery store!

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Some studies indicate that the consumption of chocolate has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits. So if you’re someone who suffers from extremely high blood pressure, “have a break, have a KitKat,” or another equally delicious chocolate bar.

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So  does this mean that you should try to eat all of the chocolate in the world to keep your heart going? Ha, I wish! Unfortunately, that is not the case, as there is no clear evidence yet indicating exactly how much chocolate is too much chocolate for your heart, so do not go out and get completely chocolate wasted.

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“We were not able to quantify the exact quantity or the frequency so how frequently you would [need to] consume chocolate. What we found were that the beneficial effects occur if you consume chocolate at least more than twice per week.”

– Oscar Franco, a health professor at the University of Cambridge.

However, researchers believe the boost may be related to flavonoids, an antioxidant made from plants, which is also found in red wine, and certain fruits.

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With this in mind, Doctors from the University of Cambridge reviewed existing evidence to develop new information on the effects of eating chocolate on cardiovascular diseases; heart attack and stroke. As part of studies being conducted on the effects of chocolate on the heart, over 100,000 participants, with and without existing heart conditions were analyzed. For these studies, they compared the group who consumed lots of chocolate to a group that had little to no consumption.

These researchers found chocolate consumption has a benefit against the risk of cardiovascular events. It was found that the highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with a 37% reduction in cardiovascular disease and a 29% reduction is stroke.

I know what you’re all thinking… does this apply to ALL chocolate? The answer is no. Researchers believe high caloric chocolate, such as milk chocolate (my personal favourite) is not as effective as dark chocolate for your health. This is due to the sugar and fat content in milk chocolate. Nonetheless, consuming too much high caloric chocolate can lead to weight gain and diabetes, so put down your spoons and step away from the chocolate cake you just inhaled.

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As these findings indicate that there is a positive correlation with heart health and consuming chocolate, new research should be conducted to explore reducing fat and sugar content in chocolate products, so we can indulge completely guilt free  and live in an ideal world with luscious chocolate. (excuse me for drooling as I write this)!

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By: Harmen Tatla