Chocolate May Make Some Strokes Less Likely

In news that will surely delight chocolate lovers, a Harvard study finds that a couple of squares of dark chocolate a day might reduce the risk of a hemorrhagic stroke by as much as 52 percent.

Unfortunately for chocolate fans, though, the same research also found that chocolate does not appear to have a protective benefit for the most common type of stroke.

People who have a stroke have either an ischemic or a hemorrhagic stroke. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood vessel that supplies blood to the brain becomes blocked, either partially or completely. This type of stroke accounts for about 80 percent of all strokes, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Hemorrhagic strokes, which occur when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and bleeds into the brain, make up about 20 percent of all strokes.

The benefit attributed to cocoa stems from substances it contains known as flavonoids, which are believed to help protect against certain cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as blood pressure and blood clotting.

After adjusting the data to account for known cardiovascular disease risk factors -- such as smoking, physical activity, weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels and diabetes -- the researchers found no statistically significant association in the risk for cardiovascular disease between the highest levels of cocoa consumption and the lowest.

However, when they broke down the data by type of stroke, they found a statistically significant reduction for women who’d had hemorrhagic strokes and had consumed the most chocolate. In women who ate more than 9 grams of chocolate daily, the risk for hemorrhagic stroke was 52 percent lower than it was for those who consumed less than 0.1 grams of chocolate a day.