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Swedish researchers found that of more than 37 000 men followed for a decade, those who ate the most chocolate had a 17% lower risk of stroke than men who avoided chocolate.
The chocolate-loving group typically had the equivalent of a third of a cup of chocolate chips each week.
The study, published in Neurology, is hardly the first to link chocolate to cardiovascular benefits. Several have suggested that chocolate lovers have lower rates of certain risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
But those studies do not prove that chocolate is the reason. And the new one, funded by the Swedish Council for working Life and Social Research and the Swedish Research Council, doesn't either, according to a neurologist not involved in the study.
Not a reason to indulge
"It's very important for people to take the news on chocolate with a grain of salt," said Dr Richard B Libman, vice chair of neurology at the Cushing Neuroscience Institute in Manhasset, New York.
The study was well done, Dr Libman said, but it was observational. Proving cause-and-effect would take a controlled clinical trial. "I don't think a trial like that will ever be done," he said.
For one thing, Dr Libman noted, that would mean feeding people a good dose of sugar, fat and kilojoules for a long time.
The current findings are based on 37 100 Swedish men ages 49 to 75 who reported on their usual intake of chocolate and other foods. Over the next 10 years, 1995 men suffered a first-time stroke.
Among men in the top quartile for chocolate intake, the stroke rate was 73 per 100 000 men per year, vs 85 per 100 000 among men in the lowest quartile, report the researchers, led by Dr Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
Even after adjustment for weight, other diet habits, smoking status, and hypertension, men who ate the most chocolate had a 17% lower stroke risk.
Still, Dr Libman said, there could be unmeasured factors that would account for the chocolate-stroke connection.
Consider the negative effects
It's always possible, he noted, that men who ate chocolate were already in generally better health, and saw themselves that way. So they might have felt freer to "indulge" in chocolate than other men did.
But there are reasons to believe chocolate could have real effects. "The beneficial effect of chocolate consumption on stroke may be related to the flavonoids in chocolate," Dr Larsson said in a written release from the journal. (She could not be reached for comment.)
But Dr Libman pointed out that the flavonoid theory is just that, a theory.
And chocolate does not corner the market on flavonoids. A range of plant foods contain various flavonoids - including many fruits (like berries, citrus and apples) and vegetables (like kale, spinach and broccoli), nuts, soy, tea and wine.
For now, Dr Libman said, "You can't start advising people to eat chocolate based on this. Think of the negative effects that could result, like obesity and type 2 diabetes."
For women who are wondering if the current findings might apply to them, Dr Larsson's team found similar results in a study of 33 000 Swedish women last year. But the same caveats also apply.
(Reuters Health, August 2012)
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