"A sweet tooth isnt necessarily bad for your health at least not when it comes to chocolate hints a new study.  Chocolates made by Belgian Christine Scholtes Covic are displayed in her Lika Chocolate workshop in the village of Rakovica in the Croatian region of Lika some  kilometres  miles south of Zagreb January  . REUTERSNikola Solic Researchers studying more than  Swedish women found that the more chocolate women said they ate the lower their risk of stroke.  The results add to a growing body of evidence linking cocoa consumption to heart health but they arent a free pass to gorge on chocolate.  Given the observational design of the study findings from this study cannot prove that its 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.  Larsson and her colleagues whose findings appear in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology tapped into data from a mammography study that included selfreports of how much chocolate women ate in . The women ranged in age from  to  years.  Over the next decade there were  strokes and the more chocolate women ate the lower their risk.  Among those with the highest weekly chocolate intake  more than  grams  there were . strokes per  women per year. That figure was . per  among women who ate the least less than . grams per week.  Scientists speculate that substances known as flavonoids in particular socalled flavanols may be responsible for chocolates apparent effects on health.  According to Larsson flavonoids have been shown to cut high blood pressure a risk factor for stroke and improve other blood factors linked to heart health. Whether that theoretical benefit translates into reallife benefits remains to be proven by rigorous studies however.  Nearly  Americans suffer a stroke every year with about a sixth of them dying of it and many more left disabled. For those at high risk doctors recommend blood pressure medicine quitting smoking exercising more and eating a healthier diet  but so far chocolate isnt on the list.  SOURCE bit.lyqhsaZ httpbit.lyqhsaZ Journal of the American College of Cardiology October  . Our StandardsThe Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. httpthomsonreuters.comenaboutustrustprinciples.html"