Health Benefits of Chocolate

What is Chocolate?

Chocolate is made from a number of raw and processed foods produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. The seeds of the cacao tree have an intense bitter taste, and must be fermented to develop the flavor. After fermentation, the beans are dried, cleaned, and roasted, and the shell is removed to produce cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground to cocoa mass, pure chocolate in rough form.

First of all you have to consume dark chocolate, which has 65 percent or higher cocoa content, for you to benefit from it. You should avoid consuming milk chocolate and anything with caramel, nougat or other fillings. These fillings are just adding sugar and fat which erase many of the benefits you get from eating the chocolate. In dark chocolate only 1/3 of the fat is bad for you.

So why is chocolate healthy?

Chocolate contains flavonoids and catechins, which are antioxidants. These antioxidants protect the cells of the body from aging and damaging caused by free radicals. Free radicals damages cells and tissue. Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.

Antioxidants in chocolate:

type of chocolate    phenolics(mg/100gr)    flavonoids(mg/100gr)      

dark chocolate    578,64mg                          28,30mg      

milk chocolate    160,46mg                           13,48mg      

white chocolate    126,39mg                          7,70mg   

Heart Benefits

Chocolate lowers the blood pressure by consuming a small bar of dark chocolate everyday. Eating chocolate also lowers LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol). This is mainly caused by a particular substance present in cocoa called epicatechin.

There is also now scientific evidence (Swedish study from August 2010) that chocolate can decrease the risk for heart failure in women. Heart failure is a serious condition in which the heart is not pumping blood around the body efficiently.

To have some protection against heart failure women should consume chocolate one or two servings of high cocoa content black chocolate (high quality chocolate) per week. But those who eat the high-quality chocolate daily will not have protective benefit because of the additional calories gained.

Note that you have to buy your chocolate imported because of the low content of cocoa in USA. Even milk chocolate in Europe has a higher cocoa concentration than dark chocolate sold in the US.

Other Benefits

It stimulates your endorphin production, which gives you a feeling of pleasure, and thebromine which have a stimulatory effect. Apart from these two chocolate contains serotonin, which is an anti-depressant.

Chocolate:

·    Is an Aphrodisiac.

·    Recovers muscles faster after exercise (low-fat milk chocolate).

·    Has a low glycemic index.

·    Will not probably cause acne (there’s no supported scientific studies of that).

·    May be nootropic.

·    Have a really good taste!

So if you want the benefits from consuming chocolate, consume dark chocolate and consume it moderately (max 3 times a week).

Posted in: Anti-Aging,Mens Health,Nutrition,Womens Health