Chocolate and stroke research

 A "sweet" story about stroke research...

Chocolate lovers have fewer strokes, study finds:

The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health, but they aren't a free pass to gorge on chocolate.

"Given the observational design of the study, findings from this study cannot prove that it's chocolate that lowers the risk of stroke," Susanna Larsson from Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm told Reuters Health in an email.

While she believes chocolate has health benefits, she also warned that eating too much of it could be counterproductive.

"Chocolate should be consumed in moderation as it is high in calories, fat, and sugar," she said. "As dark chocolate contains more cocoa and less sugar than milk chocolate, consumption of dark chocolate would be more beneficial."

Now as the quoted research says: This does not prove that chocolate prevents strokes. And don't go overboard, of course - too many calories are not good for you. But intriguing news - and who can argue against more chocolate research?

(Image from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)