Chocolate is a treat that many people have been told is bad for them. “It’s high in calories,” “it has too much sugar,” and “you should eat something healthier,” are just a few of the things people hear when they go to grab a piece of dark chocolate over a piece of fruit.
But it may be
better to indulge in dark chocolate than you have been led to believe.
Dark Chocolate vs Milk Chocolate: What is the Difference?
Sadly, milk
chocolate is quite different from dark chocolate. You need to make sure that if
you are trying to eat dark chocolate for its health benefits, the chocolate is
the right kind.
The differences are substantial:
- Dark chocolate contains 50% to 90% cocoa solids and butter and sugar.
-
Milk chocolate contains
10% to 50% of the ingredients above and a form of milk.
If you buy
the cheaper milk chocolate, you may also find additional ingredients, such as
vegetable oils, colorings, and fats.
The cocoa is
what really gives you the health benefits of dark chocolate.
You want to
choose the chocolate that has the highest cocoa content because this is where you
will consume the most flavonoids and reap the benefits of high antioxidant
count.
What Health Benefits Does Dark Chocolate Have Anyway?
Dark
chocolate is filled with antioxidants, which are good for you on their
own, but there is so much more to eating this type of chocolate. A few of the
benefits that most people do not realize come from this chocolate are:
Blood Flow Improvements
Blood flow
can be improved, according to one study. The study found that this chocolate can stimulate the
body’s endothelium. What is an endothelium? It is the artery’s lining that is
responsible for the production of nitric oxide.
Nitric oxide
plays an integral role in helping the arteries relax by lowering blood flow
resistance.
There have
been multiple additional studies that show dark chocolate can reduce blood
pressure thanks to lowering blood flow resistance.
It should be
noted that while a lot of studies have shown the possibility of improving blood
flow and lowering pressure, more studies are needed to verify these claims.
Helps Fight Back Against “Bad” Cholesterol
Bad
cholesterol, also known as LDL, is altered when consuming dark
chocolate. In men with high cholesterol, cocoa was shown to decrease oxidized LDL cholesterol and improve “good”
cholesterol known as HDL.
When LDL is
oxidized, this means that it can cause damage to your tissues and arteries.
Dark
chocolate was shown to reduce this bad cholesterol thanks to the powerful
antioxidants found in chocolate. There is also evidence that chocolate will reduce insulin resistance, which is beneficial
for people that are susceptible to diabetes or heart disease.
Reduce the Risk of Heart Disease
Speaking of heart disease, there is some evidence that the compounds in dark chocolate protect your heart against the oxidation of LDL. What does this mean anyway? It means:
Cholesterol is less likely to become lodged in your arteries
- Death from heart disease may be reduced by 50%
- Reduced
calcified plaque in the arteries
One study
linked consuming dark chocolate just twice per week with a reduction in
calcified plaque in the arteries by as much as 32%. If you are thinking that you can consume more chocolate for
even more benefits, you would be wrong.
The study
found that consuming more chocolate did not have a greater impact on reducing
calcified plaque.
But there
was another study that suggests eating chocolate up to five times weekly was
able to reduce the risk of heart disease by as much as 57%.
Improve Brain Function
Want to
improve the blood flow to your brain? Chocolate can help. High-flavanol cocoa
eaten over the course of five days was shown to improve the blood flow in the brain. Additional
studies show that older people may be able to benefit from eating dark
chocolate even more than younger people.
Studies on older adults found that dark
chocolate was able to significantly improve cognitive function. The stimulating
effects of cocoa are thought to be responsible for this improvement in brain
function.
Loads of Other Dark Chocolate Benefits
The benefits
that we have just covered are only some of the health benefits of eating dark
chocolate. There are a lot of additional benefits, some that come from studies
and some that you can experience after eating just a few pieces. These include:
- Stimulating effect that helps you stay energized
- High levels of magnesium and zinc
- Improve
your mood
- Some
evidence of metabolic improvement
- May help improve gut health
- May reduce the risk of certain cancers
- Improves skin health
Dark
chocolate is more than just a delicious treat –it is also a nice boost to your
health. It is easy to walk into the store and pick up a milk chocolate that is
low on cocoa content and high on milk and sugar, but your body will thank you
for choosing dark chocolate instead.
How to Choose a Good Dark Chocolate
If you go
into the grocery store, you will find dozens of chocolate bars to choose from
with fancy packaging. It is tempting to try chocolate bars with creamy fillings
or other added ingredients, but this is not the best way for you to choose a
dark chocolate bar.
Instead, you
want to look for:
- Solid chocolate bars without all the goodies added in
- Cocoa
concentrations of 70% or higher
If you see
that the chocolate is made using “dutching” or is “alkalized,” it is going to
lose a lot of its antioxidants in the process. In fact, studies show that you should be avoiding Dutched chocolate for this
very reason.
A few
additional points to keep in mind is that you should choose your dark chocolate
responsibly, looking for chocolate that is:
- Fair-trade
- Organic
Organic
chocolates have less exposure to chemicals and pesticides, which make their way
into the cocoa. Fair-trade practices ensure that those that are growing and
gathering the cocoa beans are compensated fairly.
Now, all that
is left to do is eat a few small pieces of chocolate per day to experience the
benefits of dark chocolate for yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment