Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have found that chocolate thins blood and protects the heart in the same way as aspirin.
The key is a compound in chocolate called flavanol, which slows down platelet clumping that can block off blood vessels and lead to a heart attack or stroke.
You have to eat at least a couple of tablespoons of dark chocolate a day to see some benefit – and it’s still not as effective as a single baby aspirin, which is usually prescribed to heart patients.
Matching aspirin would require eating several bars of chocolate a day, which could lead to other problems, such as obesity and diabetes – to say nothing of tooth decay.
Epidemiologist Diane Becker, who led the study funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, said the discovery came after 139 of 1,535 people studied for aspirin’s effect on blood platelets confessed to sneaking chocolate. The cheaters’ blood was less likely to clot.
