This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the association between chocolate consumption and risk of stroke in men and conduct a meta-analysis to summarize available evidence from prospective studies of chocolate consumption and stroke.
Methods: We prospectively followed 37,103 men in the Cohort of Swedish Men. Chocolate consumption was assessed at baseline using a food-frequency questionnaire. Cases of first stroke were ascertained from the Swedish Hospital Discharge Registry. For the meta-analysis, pertinent studies were identified by searching the PubMed and EMBASE databases through January 13, 2012. Study-specific results were combined using a random-effects model.
Results: During 10.2 years of follow-up, we ascertained 1,995 incident stroke cases, including 1,511 cerebral infarctions, 321 hemorrhagic strokes, and 163 unspecified strokes. High chocolate consumption was associated with a lower risk of stroke. The multivariable relative risk of stroke comparing the highest quartile of chocolate consumption (median 62.9 g/week) with the lowest quartile (median 0 g/week) was 0.83 (95 % CI 0.70–0.99). The association did not differ by stroke subtypes. In a meta-analysis of 5 studies, with a total of 4,260 stroke cases, the overall relative risk of stroke for the highest vs lowest category of chocolate consumption was 0.81 (95% CI 0.73–0.90), without heterogeneity among studies (p = 0.47).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that moderate chocolate consumption may lower the risk of stroke.
GLOSSARY
- BMI=
- body mass index;
- CI=
- confidence interval;
- ICD-10=
- International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision;
- LDL=
- low-density lipoprotein;
- MET=
- metabolic equivalent
Footnotes
Study funding: Supported by research grants from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research (FAS) and the Swedish Research Council/Committee for Infrastructure and by a Research Fellow grant from Karolinska Institutet (to Dr. Larsson). The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; or preparation, review, or approval of the article.
- Received February 2, 2012.
- Accepted May 1, 2012.
- Copyright © 2012 by AAN Enterprises, Inc.
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
- Acute effect of chocolate ingestion on the cerebral vasculature
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
