While we may have heard that dark chocolate may be beneficial to our heart health, a new study has found that milk chocolate as well as dark chocolate may lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
Why is Chocolate Heart Healthy?
What you may not know about chocolate is that the cocoa bean is rich in nutrients called flavonoids. Flavonoids are antioxidant compounds that increase the flexibility of veins and arteries. They also help protect plants from environmental toxins and help repair damage.
Antioxidants help the body's cells resist damage caused by free radicals, an atom or group of atoms containing at least one unpaired electron and is therefore unstable and highly reactive. In animal tissues, free radicals can damage cells and are believed to accelerate the progression of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and age-related diseases.
Flavanols are the main type of flavonoid found in cocoa and chocolate. This is what gives chocolate its bitter taste. Flavanols have antioxidant qualities and have the potential to increase heart health, lower blood pressure, and improve blood flow to the brain and heart.
New Study Suggests Milk Chocolate is Heart-Healthy As Well
It has been believed that dark chocolate has the highest levels of flavanols because it has been less processed through methods like fermentation, alkalizing and roasting, preserving more flavanols. However, a new study reported in the BMJ journal Heart has revealed that eating milk chocolate regularly may lower your risk of heart disease and stroke.
The study looked at long-term health data on nearly 21,000 adults in England. They found that participants who consumed the most chocolate (up to 3.5 ounces per day) were 100% less likely than those who ate no chocolate to have a heart attack or stroke, and 25% less likely to die from heart disease. Dietary variables like smoking, age, alcohol consumption and physical activity level were all taken into account.
Participants in the study ate more milk chocolate than dark chocolate, suggesting that the health benefits of chocolate aren't specific to dark.
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