A study carried out in Germany over eight years has found that chocolate may be good for your heart. They compared how much chocolate was in the diet of almost 20,000 people to the number of heart attacks and strokes people had. Lead researcher Brian Buijsse said: "Chocolate is not as bad as we used to think, and may even lower the risk of heart disease and stroke." Mr Buijsse‟s team found that dark chocolate was the healthiest kind to eat; milk chocolate has fewer effects and white chocolate no effects.
The German study showed that people who ate the most chocolate reduced their risk of having a heart attack by 27 per cent. The risk of suffering a stroke was cut by 48 per cent. Nutrition experts believe that natural compounds in chocolate called flavonols are good for our heart. Flavonols also help reduce blood pressure. They are found in cocoa beans, and this is why dark chocolate, which has more cocoa, contains more of them than milk chocolate, which has more fat. Buijsse warns people not to suddenly eat lots of chocolate: "Eating higher amounts will most likely result in weight gain. If people start eating small amounts of chocolate, it should replace other high-calorie sweets or snacks."
(Adapted from http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com)