NEW YORK: Chocolate, the most widely and frequently craved food, may be good for your heart. But, if a study is to be believed, its regular consumption could weaken your bones and raise the risk of suffering a fracture.

A team of researchers has carried out the study and found that people who eat chocolates daily are likely to have less dense and weak bones, which in turn could increase the risk of health problems such as osteoporosis and fracture.

"Cocoa and chocolate have been promoted as having a range of beneficial cardiovascular properties. But the effect of chocolate intake on other organ systems has not been studied," according to lead researcher Jonathan Hodgson of the University of Western Australia.

In fact, according to him, though chocolate contains flavones and calcium, both linked to having a positive effect on bone density, it also contains oxalate an inhibitor of calcium absorption and sugar, linked to calcium excretion.

The team came to the conclusion after analyzing the effect of chocolates on a group of 1,000 women aged between 70 and 85, who were randomly assigned either calcium supplements or a matched placebo for a period of several weeks.

During this period, the participants were also asked to keep a dairy of how often they consumed chocolate.