This Guilty Pleasure Could Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease by 23%

Because of its bitter taste, you will seldom find someone chomping down on a bar of pure dark chocolate. It’s certainly an acquired taste, but one worth acquiring once you know the incredible health benefits buried in those hard chocolate squares.

What health benefits you say? Take a gander at this diet study published in the British Medical Journal’s “Heart” magazine.

Is There A Connection Between Heart Health and Chocolate?

According to experts at the University of Aberdeen, eating a moderate amount of chocolate a day can lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.

That’s right. You don’t have to wait until Valentine’s Day to put chocolate and hearts together anymore! One small bar of chocolate a day can reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by 11%, and reduce your risk of stroke by 23%!

The 12 year study was based on the diets of 20,000 middle-aged and elderly men and women in Norfolk, Britain. 20% of the participants said they did not eat any chocolate, and the ones that did consumed between seven grams and 100 grams daily.

Since the study was merely an observation, experts can’t confidently establish a cause and effect relationship between chocolate and heart health, but the correlation is certainly there.

Now, chocolate certainly can’t replace the benefits of exercise and a healthy diet on cardiovascular health, but munching on a bar daily, (or blending it in a smoothie if you prefer,) may be a great habit to add to your daily routine.

More Chocolate Doesn’t Mean Better Heart Health

It’s important to keep in mind that chocolate is rich in fat and carbohydrates, so eating a whole package of chocolate won’t keep your heart in tip top shape. Eating too much chocolate may actually reduce your cardiovascular health by making you gain weight.

If you are already a health weight, a little bit of chocolate a day may have some health benefits, but those who are overweight should not consider chocolate as their heart health solution.

Dark Chocolate ONLY

Most foods are healthiest in their rawest forms, and many milk chocolate bars are loaded with sugar, additional additives, and are stripped of the ingredients that make chocolate healthy to begin with. Here’s what 100 grams of dark chocolate has that milk chocolate does not:

11 grams of fiber

67% of your daily recommended iron (great news for women who are menstruating!)

58% of your daily recommended magnesium

89% of your daily recommended copper

98% of your daily recommended manganese

As mentioned earlier, dark chocolate has a bitter taste, but there are chocolate bars with varying percentages of cacoa, the substance that gives dark chocolate its taste. You can slowly work your way up to 100% cacoa with these chocolate bars, but make sure to read all nutritional labels before making a purchase.

Further studies are needed to examine the relationship between chocolate and heart health, but so far, a little chocolate a day doesn’t seem to hurt!