Could Chocolate Lower Atrial Fibrillation Risk?

Moderate chocolate intake could be associated with lower risk of atrial fibrillation, according to a recent study.

The researchers examined data from the Danish Diet, Cancer, and health Study, which included 55,502 participants aged 50 to 64 years who provided information on their chocolate intake at baseline via a 192-question food frequency questionnaire. Using data from nationwide registries, they recorded incident cases of atrial fibrillation.
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Overall, 3346 cases of AF were identified during a median of 13.5 years of follow-up. Individuals with higher levels of chocolate intake were more likely to have higher levels of education and higher daily caloric intake.

Compared with chocolate intake of less than once per month, the rate of atrial fibrillation was lower in individuals who consumed 1 to 3 servings each month (hazard ratio [HR] 0.90), 1 serving per week (HR 0.83), 2 to 6 servings per week (HR 0.80), and more than 1 serving per day (HR 0.84).

Despite these results, the researchers cautioned that several limitations of their study, including a lack of data on renal disease and sleep apnea, could call the results into question.

“Participants with higher levels of chocolate intake had a lower rate of clinically apparent incident AF or flutter. Future research is necessary to confirm this finding and to determine whether high levels of chocolate intake are associated with higher AF risk,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Mostofsky E, Johansen MB, Tjonneland A, et al. Chocolate intake and risk of clinically apparent atrial fibrillation: the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study [published online May 23, 2017]. Heart. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2016-310357.