Chocolate & Stroke: the Most Delicious Way to Save Your Life

Here’s great news for women who love chocolate: it just might save your life. Chocolate is not only good for Valentine’s hearts: it turns out, it’s great for your heart too. Eating chocolate can prevent you from having a stroke. . . .

A stroke starves your brain of blood and oxygen, killing your brain cells. It is the cause of an incredible 6% of all deaths in Canada and of 5.3% of all deaths in the United States. Eating chocolate, though, can prevent that from happening to you.

Several studies have shown that eating dark chocolate prevents strokes. Meta-analyses of studies on chocolate and stroke have found a 14-21% reduced risk of stroke for the people who eat the most chocolate.

And now, a new study has, once again, demonstrated the power of chocolate over your heart: at least for women.

This large study included 38,182 men and 46,415 women between the ages of 44 and 76 and followed them for an average of 12.9 years. It found that women who eat chocolate have a significant 16% lower risk of having a stroke. Men have a 6% reduced risk of stroke, but the benefit for the men was not statistically significant.

The study does not seem to differentiate between eating dark chocolate or other less healthy forms of chocolate like milk chocolate. It would be interesting to see if the benefit for men would be significant if only dark chocolate was included.

That question of whether chocolate can also prevent stroke in men has also been asked in earlier research. Though an earlier study that looked only at a large group of women found a similar 14% reduction in stroke risk for women who ate chocolate (J Am Coll Cardiol 2011;doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2011.07.023), a large study of 37,103 men found that the men who ate the most chocolate (62.9g a week), had a 17% reduced risk of stroke (Neurology 2012;79:1223-29). So, in this study, chocolate did benefit men. And again, the results of both these studies may have been even more impressive if they only included dark chocolate, as most studies do.

Atherosclerosis 2017 Mar 4 ;260:8-12

For the latest research to keep your family healthy, get The Natural Path delivered to your inbox each month: Subscribe!

For comprehensive help for heart health, make an appointment to see Linda Woolven now.

The Natural Path is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. For health problems, consult a qualified health practitioner for a comprehensive program.