Seeing as our next holiday is Valentine’s Day, I thought I
would take a look at chocolate. And who
doesn’t like chocolate? Everyone says
candy is bad for you – at least that is what they used to say. And yes, candy does have added sugar and that
isn’t healthy. But can chocolate have
health benefits? Yes, it can, dark
chocolate that is.
When the manufacture dark chocolate they leave in more of
the cocoa solids and add less sugar compared to milk chocolate. This is what gives dark chocolate its
stronger, rich flavor. So what is the “healthy”
ingredient in dark chocolate? Flavenols,
these are an antioxidant found in dark chocolate and cocoa. Milk chocolate is not has healthy as it not
only contains more added sugar but less of these healthy flavenols. It is the flavenols that can help guard
against heart disease, diabetes, dementia and stroke, quite a list of diseases.
Heart benefits of
dark chocolate: How does
chocolate benefit our hearts?
1.
Lowers
blood pressure
2.
Lowers cholesterol
3.
Improve the cells lining our heart and blood
vessels
Brain benefits of
dark chocolate:
1.
Learning
and memory – dark chocolate flavenols accumulate in our brain, in the areas of
memory and learning. Researchers believe
eating dark chocolate and getting the flavenols over a long period of time can
actually be protective against our brain declining, or “cognitive decline”.
What to buy? The
darker the chocolate the better for your health. The researchers studying chocolate used
chocolate containing 70% cocoa.
Ingredients – look for cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla. Avoid chocolate with palm, coconut oil or
other fats.
Portions – keep them small as chocolate has calories and
fat. One ounce of chocolate has about 168 calories and provides 12 grams of
fat.
Image Source: Chocolate heart
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