Dark chocolate: It’s not just about the taste, it’s actually healthy for you! There are numerous benefits to eating dark chocolate, according to the experts. The following are some of the greatest dark chocolate benefits:
-Can decrease blood pressure, according to the U.S. government – Health and Human Services Department.
-In addition to decreasing blood pressure, studies have also shown that chocolate can improve a person’s sensitivity to insulin. (Good news for millions of diabetics.)
-Dark chocolate balances certain hormones in the body.
-Chocolate contains epicatechin, which in studies on mice that had strokes helped them recover and improve. Other mice that also had strokes and were not given the compound, died. It is thought that dark chocolate helps improve blood flow, and dissolve platelets. Epicatechin is also found in grapes and green tea, but in larger quantities in cocoa.
-Dark chocolate contains a fair amount of antioxidents, which are known to help prevent cancer, diabetes, excessive skin aging, etc.
-Dark chocolate can also help to lower ldl (bad) cholesterol by up to 10%.
-It contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant.
-It contains theobromine and caffeine, both of which are stimulants.
The key is that the more bitter the chocolate, the more epicatechin, or antioxidents there are in the chocolate. When the process is used to make white chocolate or milk chocolate, all of the beneficial epicatechin is removed. So when it’s specified that dark chocolate is healthy, it really is only dark chocolate, and not white or milk chocolate.
Now the not so good news about dark chocolate: It has a lot of calories. One regular sized dark chocolate candy bar contains about 400 calories, and depending, some fat that isn’t good for your either. But back to the good news – you only need to eat about 3.5 oz. or ½ a chocolate bar a day to gain all the benefits listed above.
So the moral of the story of dark chocolate benefits: Eat (in moderation), drink (in moderation) and be happy (very happy)!