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It is considered one of life’s guilty pleasures – but that could be about to change.

Scientists now say that regularly tucking into a few pieces of chocolate may actually be good for us. A study has found that people who regularly eat chocolate are less likely to fall victim to strokes and heart disease.

The findings – based on a 12-year study of 21,000 Britons – suggest that eating dark or milk chocolate could be beneficial for health.

People at risk of heart disease are often told to exclude sweet and fattening foods from their diet. 

But the researchers, whose work was published in the medical journal Heart, said: ‘There does not appear to be any evidence to say that chocolate should be avoided by those who are concerned about cardiovascular risk.’

They found that people who regularly ate chocolate – some of whom consumed up to 100g a day – were 11 per cent less likely to have a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problem than people who ate none at all.

Eating chocolate was also associated with a 25 per cent reduced chance of dying with a heart problem. 

The study authors – from the universities of Aberdeen, Manchester, Cambridge and East Anglia – stressed that their investigation merely looked at statistical trends, and could not draw definitive conclusions about cause and effect.

They said there is a chance the results were skewed slightly by the fact that people who have a high risk of heart disease may steer clear of chocolate – so those who regularly eat the treat might already be healthier. 

But they added: ‘Nevertheless, the cumulative evidence suggests that high chocolate consumption may be associated with cardiovascular benefit.’ 

The researchers suspect that chocolate’s health benefits are linked to flavonoids – antioxidants present in dark chocolate that are thought to help blood flow.

But they said that milk chocolate, which is usually considered to be less ‘healthy’, may also have health benefits.

‘Milk chocolate was more frequently consumed than dark chocolate in this cohort,’ they wrote. ‘However, we still observed a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

‘This may indicate that not only flavonoids, but also other compounds – possibly related to milk constituents such as calcium and fatty acids – may provide an explanation.’ 

‘However, it is also clear that chocolate has the potential to increase weight, which is unequivocally bad for cardiovascular health.’

 Professor Aedin Cassidy, nutritionist at the University of East Anglia, issued a word of warning. 

‘Chocolate also contains fat and sugar so only moderate intakes should be recommended as part of a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables,’ she said.

n It may be good for your health but chocolate could soon hurt your pocket after experts predicted soaring prices amid a long-term shortage of cocoa.

A University of Sydney study said that with cocoa bean production falling and demand for chocolate rising in growing economies such as China, shoppers can expect prices to increase by 60 per cent in the next five years. There has already been a 20 per cent rise in the past year.