From Physician’s First Watch for August 17, 2010:

Moderate chocolate consumption might lower a woman’s risk for heart failure (HF)… [in]… more than 30,000 middle-aged and older Swedish women…

Compared with women who didn’t eat chocolate, those who consumed one to three servings a month had about a 25% reduction in HF risk…

The authors point out that chocolate is a good source of flavonoids, which might improve cardiovascular risk factors.

They note, however, that chocolate consumed in the U.S. likely contains less cocoa (known to be cardioprotective) than that consumed by women in this study.

I eat small amounts of chocolate every day -pure cacao powder (1 tablespoon) added to my oatmeal.  If I eat a piece of chocolate, it’s less than once a week, and 80-90% cacao (dark chocolate).

Note:  milk chocolate and white “chocolate” (not even chocolate) are full of sugars and dangerous fats, and are to be avoided.

Chocolate Intake and Incidence of Heart Failure