The Zutphen Elderly Study says so

Bringing relief to chocoholics, Dutch researchers studying elderly people for 15 years found that cocoa intake benefits the cardiovascular system. The study of 470 Dutch men aged 65 to 84 years, called the Zutphen Elderly Study, showed that increased cocoa intake is associated with lower blood pressure.

However, the exact mechanism is not know yet. "The lower cardiovascular mortality risk associated with cocoa intake could not be attributed to the lower blood pressure observed with cocoa use," the authors write. "Our findings, therefore, suggest that the lower cardiovascular mortality risk related with cocoa intake is mediated by mechanisms other than lowering blood pressure." Cocoa extracts contain several candidates that may be responsible for the benefits, but which one exactly remains to be studied.

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