British scientists are searching for volunteers willing to eat chocolate every day, as part of a study that investigates whether chocolate can reduce the risk of heart disease in women suffering from type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia in Norwich are looking for 150 postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes who are going to be offered a bar of chocolate every day. The chocolate will be made especially for this study by a Belgian chocolatier.

"There are certain things we know we must do to reduce the risk of heart disease. Eating chocolate every day for a year is not normally one of them," said a UEA spokesman, according to the Press Association.

"However, in the first clinical trial of its kind, researchers at the UEA will be asking postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes to do just that."

The scientists at the UEA believe that chocolate rich in flavonoids, which are contained by cocoa, helps fighting heart diseases. As the process of turning cocoa into chocolate usually destroys a large part of the flavonoids, the chocolate made for the study will be prepared using a special formula that will help cocoa preserve most of its flavonoids.

Soy, which is also rich in flavonoids, will also be added to the chocolate bar.

The researchers are trying to recruit 150 women under the age of 70, who have not had a period for at least a year and who have been taking cholesterol-lowering drugs for at least one year as well. They hope to find a much pleasant way to protect women's heart than using regular drugs.

"A successful outcome of this research would hopefully mean being able to offer people at high risk better protection over and above that provided by conventional drugs," said Dr. Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, who also insisted that the researchers were not encouraging people to eat a lot of chocolate, as it was high in sugar and fat.