Can eating chocolate improve your heart health?

Ghirardelli, Godiva and Dove, who could resist right? Who does not love to indulge in a chocolate bar every now and then. Well what if it was true that consuming chocolate everyday was beneficial for your heart health? Would you partake in eating higher amounts of chocolate? This is huge considering that heart disease is the number one cause of death in America…and also the sheer fact that chocolate is delicious.

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In 2010, Meta-analysis studies were conducted by many different researchers. This was an observational study with a simple correlation in mind. The researchers wanted to asses the relationship between chocolate consumption and the risk of obtaining a cardiovascular disease/ cardio metabolic disorder. In order to conduct a study on this, researchers created randomized control trials preformed by over four thousand adult humans. These test were done on people from countries all over the world, different genders and all different age ranges. This study was performed by having two independent reviewers which asses the experiments and kept track of the scoring system. In order to reach their hypothesis, researchers kept track of their results through a point system, which a point was given for every sign of cohort.

In each trial, researchers compared the groups with the lowest consumption of chocolate to the group with the highest consumption of chocolate. Through this, they compared differences in apparent diseases like cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes. These were the diseases used with the point system. This study was also not biased to the different types of chocolate consumed by people. The data was recorded and scored for a period of time of 8 to 16 years to receive the most accurate results.

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After these studies were concluded and scored, the researchers were able to confirm their hypothesis. It was found through many studies that the group of people with the higher consumption levels of chocolate had a one third less chance of a cardio metabolic disorder, which was about 37%. The results also proved that it wasn’t just cardio metabolic disorders that decreased through the high amounts of chocolate consumed. While it also shows the higher chocolate consumption decreases the risk of diabetes by 31% and the risk of a stroke by 29%. So, what does this mean? Stuff your face with as much chocolate as possible every day? Well, no. Like in most cases of life, everything can be good in moderation. Though the consumption of chocolate is beneficial and you should partake in the consumption of it for your health, it still means in moderation. Over eating chocolate can ultimately end in weight gain, which could further lead to problems associated with obesity.

resources:

http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4488

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110829070555.htm

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