AS a man whose chocolate consumption is regularly tut-tutted at and ridiculed by family and work colleagues, I am resisting the urge to be smug this week.

Yet another study, performed by incontrovertibly brainy fellows in Sweden, adds more weight to the theory that eating chocolate is good for you.

What's more, eating milk chocolate - and not just dark chocolate, as previous studies have found - is good for you too.

Other studies have focused on the value of chocolate in promoting cardiovascular health, but the Swedish study focuses on the prevention of stroke, and here too, it appears to be of some importance.

Men eating 63 grams, or about 2.2 ounces, of chocolate a week lowered the risk of a stroke by 17 per cent. And in the study's highest category of chocolate consumption the risk was found to be 19 per cent lower, when compared with that of those who did not eat chocolate.

I must point out at this stage that my weekly chocolate consumption is somewhat higher than 63 grams a week. But I do not believe it is such as to render meaningless the impact of the Swedish findings.

The key, according to the research, is the presence in chocolate of chemical known as flavinoids, in particular epicatechins, catechins and procyanidins.

The latter are also found in grapes, blackberries and apples, for those not keen on chocolate.

Flavinoids help reduce the stickiness of blood to prevent the formation of clots, and help dilate arteries to enable better blood flow. There may also be a role for them in cutting cholesterol concetrations in the blood.

Now, of course, the above should not be used as an excuse to march into one's local supermarket and buy up every last chocolate bar. But these findings deserve at least a decent amount of follow-up research, and I am quite preapred to put myself forward for inclusion in any subsequent trial.

Also to the fore this week is the proposition that cholesterol-lowering statins be given to all over-50s whatever their previous health record.

This has been posited as a prevention strategy - that rather than using them to unclog arteries, we could use them to prevent arteries clogging in the first place.

Sound in theory, but I cannot see that the medicalisation of a significant proportion of the population is the right way to go.

No-one I suspect, however sound the science, would propose that all over-50s eat chocolate, though if it were available on prescription, free in Wales, it might be a different matter.

As for me, I'll stick with regular trips to my local choc emporium.

FIVE matches and five wins is a start no-one at Newport County could possibly have dreamed of less than three weeks ago.

It is of course, far too early to be thinking about promotion to the Football League, but just as it is important to keep feet on the ground, it is vital that confidence remains high.

Justin Edinburgh appears from the early evidence to have kept the best of the players available to him last season, and to have blended them extremely well with a host of newcomers.

A good start to the season was vital if the move to Rodney Parade was to be repaid with improved attendances. But it is a fair bet that few within the club expected the 3,000-plus and 4,000-plus crowds that have turned out for the latest two home matches.

Ahead lies a long season, with the challenges of injuries and the potential rigours of difficult playing conditions due to ground-sharing and poor weather.

But County have hit the ground running and it is brilliant that it is not only rugby union that is bringing decent crowds into Rodney Parade. Long may it continue.

LAST week, I had the honour of performing a reading at my (sort of ) niece's wedding.

That is the disadvantage of living with a partner instead of marrying them - for years I have been described as a sort of son-in-law, a sort of uncle, by primarily, my (sort of) mother-in-law.

Weddings are of course, emotional occasions, marking exciting new chapters in lives for younger generations, provoking intimations of mortality among some of the older guests, and making those in the middle, like me, feel a bit wistful.

My (sort of) mother-in-law was in the latter category, but unwittingly she helped jolt me out of my mood. In an emotional state after the ceremony and as the wine began to flow, she sought me out at the reception.

"Thanks for doing the reading Andy, it was lovely," she said, the tears welling.

Then she switched to funeral mode: "I want you to do my urology."