Good news! Those chocolate cravings as your favorite treat is scientifically confirmed to ease emotional stress. If you think that no sweet treat could ever be nutritious, dark chocolate is here to surprise you as the nutritional benefits it offers is actually quite impressive.
A good quality dark chocolate with 70 percent or more cocoa content are found to be rich in fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. In fact, dark chocolate is recently gaining a worldwide reputation of being a “superfood.”
Flavanols, an antioxidant found in the cacao plant– from which chocolates are made from– resist or repair damage caused by free radicals which are formed by normal bodily processes and exertion, or by environmental contaminants.
They are also found in many other healthy food sources such as grapes, blackberries, red wine, and green tea. But of all of these food sources, the concentration of flavanols is highest in dark chocolate. And, that’s what gives dark chocolate its bittersweet taste. These flavanols are also the reason why chocolate is good for people’s blood pressure and heart health.
The antioxidant compounds in dark chocolate are also found to promote a variety of cardiovascular benefits, such as lowering blood pressure, increasing good cholesterol, and promoting blood sugar regulation. Dark chocolate can also lengthen the time it takes blood to clot and increase healthy blood flow by making blood vessels more elastic.
According to research published in the Journal of Proteome Research conducted by researchers at the Nestle Research Center in Switzerland, dark chocolate reduced risk factors for heart disease and other physical conditions. Dark chocolate has also been found to improve mood by increasing serotonin and endorphin levels in the brain. Eating 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily for two weeks is associated with lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
These findings add to a growing number of recently discovered potential health benefits of dark chocolate. Another study on the effects of dark chocolate found that those who consume dark chocolate had lower levels of cortisol after a stressful situation. The stress was a 5-minute mock job interview and then a 5-minute mental arithmetic task in front of an audience.
Furthermore, the response of the adrenal gland, which produces cortisol– a stress hormone– was much less. Less released cortisol with stress is important as these are strong stimulants of the heart and blood vessels. With repetitive stress over time, both the heart and blood pressure can be negatively affected.
Other compounds in dark chocolate are also reported to offer many other health benefits, such as improved insulin sensitivity, reduced blood pressure, and improved mood.
Darker chocolate has lower quantities of unhealthy ingredients, such as fat and sugar, than milk or white chocolate. The more cacao is processed, the more flavanols are eliminated. Look for chocolate with a cacao content of 70 percent or more. A good brand of dark chocolate that is at least 70 percent cacao is the most beneficial variety. Moreover, an even better source of flavanols is raw cacao. Available as beans, nibs or powder, raw cacao has the highest concentration of antioxidants of any food.
Chocolate consumption must be practiced in moderation. A serving size between one-third and three-fourths of an ounce of dark chocolate is good enough to reap its benefits. Do not replace any needed medication for diabetes or hypertension with dark chocolate. Keep in mind that despite its healthful benefits, chocolate can still contain many calories, saturated fat and sugar.
Ask anyone what the best food to eat for a snack is, they would surely say fruits or a vegetable salad. Ask a cardiologist and they would easily reply that the best snack, indeed, would be chocolate. So, the next time you find yourself looking for a sweet snack, a square of dark chocolate might just be your healthiest choice. | NWI
