MILAN – Eating moderate amounts of chocolate was associated with a reduced risk for atrial fibrillation, according to a Danish study published in Heart.
“There has been extensive research showing that moderate consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, improves markers of cardiovascular health and is associated with a lower rate of myocardial infarction, heart failure, composite cardiovascular adverse outcome and cardiovascular mortality,” Elizabeth Mostofsky, ScD, MPH, from the cardiovascular epidemiology research unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the department of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and colleagues wrote.
“However, there is limited research on whether chocolate intake is associated with a lower rate of [atrial fibrillation].”
To evaluate the association between chocolate intake and the rate of clinically apparent atrial fibrillation (AF), the researchers conducted a population-based, prospective cohort study including 55,502 men and women who were enrolled in the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health Study.
Participants’ BMI, BP and cholesterol were measured at their time of recruitment, between December 1993 and May 1997. Using a questionnaire, researchers also examined data on participant’s diet and lifestyle as well as any health conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Over a 13.5-year follow-up period, 3,346 cases of AF were identified among the study participants. Assessment showed that men and women who ate one to three 1-ounce servings of chocolate per month had a 10% lower rate of AF compared with those who ate one serving less than once per month.
Those who ate one weekly serving had a 17% lower rate and those who ate two to six weekly servings had a 20% lower rate compared with those who ate one serving less than once per month.
However, greater amounts of chocolate consumption were slightly less beneficial, with participants who ate one or more servings daily experiencing a 16% lower AF rate. The investigators found that these results were similar among men and women.
“Despite the fact that most of the chocolate consumed by the study participants likely had relatively low concentrations of potentially protective ingredients, we still observed a significant association between eating chocolate and a lower risk of AF, suggesting that even small amounts of cocoa consumption can have a positive health impact,” Mostofsky said in a press release.
“Eating excessive amounts of chocolate is not recommended because many chocolate products are high in calories from sugar and fat and could lead to weight gain and other metabolic problems. But moderate intake of chocolate with high cocoa content may be a healthy choice.”
Savannah Demko
