THE RICH BENEFITS OF EATING CHOCOLATES

Next time you eat a piece of chocolate, you may not have to feel overly guilty about it. Despite its bad reputation for causing weight gain, there are a number of health benefits associated with this delicious treat.

Throughout the years, chocolate has been on the end of a lot of bad press because of its fat content, and its consumption has been associated with acne, obesity, high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and diabetes.

However, "the recent discovery of biologically active phenolic compounds in cocoa has changed this perception and stimulated research on its effects in ageing, oxidative stress, blood pressure regulation, and atherosclerosis. Today, chocolate is lauded for its tremendous antioxidant potential."

Decreases stroke risk -  reduces the likelihood of a heart attack - protects against blood inflammation - may prevent cancer - reduces the risk of diabetes - good for your skin - improves blood flow - strengthens your brain - makes you live longer

Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are from flavonoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body.

Dark chocolate has far more antioxidants than milk or white chocolate. These other two chocolates cannot make any health claims. Dark chocolate has 65 percent or higher cocoa content. It may taste good but some research shows that washing your chocolate down with a glass of milk could prevent the antioxidants being absorbed or used by your body.

New research has emerged proving that chocolate is good not only for the soul, but for your mind and body as well.

According to a video released by the American Chemical Society (ACS), chocolate contains hundreds of compounds, and many of them come with benefits that go far beyond a few delicious moments of sweetness. Studies have already established that chocolate contains a number of beneficial ingredients. For instance, resveratrol, an important compound in chocolate, may not only protect your brain and nervous system, but actually prolong your life.

Dark chocolate is also an inflammation fighter, listed along with turmeric and following a Mediterranean-style diet as one of the healthiest, most natural ways to reduce the inflammatory processes underlying the chronic, degenerative diseases that afflict most of the developed world.

Antioxidants – The Not-So-Sweet Things Chocolate Has to Say About Free Radicals

One of the most compelling reasons to make chocolate a part of your regular diet may be for the antioxidants it provides. While most of us have heard about the importance of antioxidants, a primer might help, beginning with the explanation that the formation of free radicals – atoms, ions and molecules with unpaired electrons – in your cells can damage your DNA to the point that your risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer’s, heart disease and cancer are elevated.

This is why the antioxidant polyphenols in chocolate are so valuable, as they have the ability to stop free radical mediated oxidation. This helps to decrease your risk of those and other diseases by directly interfering with one of the major preventable causes of chronic degenerative diseases.

A factoid from ACS’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry indicates that naturally occurring polyphenols in cocoa, the fundamental component in chocolate, actually boost levels of HDL, the “good” cholesterol, while at the same time reducing the atherogenicity of so-called “bad” variety – LDL – by preventing its oxidation.

Chocoholics Aren’t Weak-Willed – They Just Know What Makes Them Feel Good

If you’re one of these individuals who gets a nice mood boost whenever you sink your teeth into a bar of pure, unadulterated chocolate, it is not happenstance. There’s actually a chemical reason called anandamide, a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that temporarily blocks feelings of pain and depression.

It’s a derivative of the Sanskrit word “bliss,” and one of the great things about chocolate is that it not only produces this compound, it also contains other chemicals that prolongs the “feel-good” aspects of anandamide.

As a scientist on the topic, Daniele Piomelli, from the University of California, Irvine, “Anandamide is also synthesized in areas of the brain that are important in memory and higher thought processes and in areas that control movement. That implies that anandamide’s function is not just to produce bliss.”

Need a Brain Boost? A Surge of Energy? Reach for Chocolate!

Natural stimulants in chocolate produce a boost in both physical and brain energy, primarily from caffeine and theobromine. But one clinical study involving 24 healthy female subjects showed “synergistic” effects on cognition and mood, which incidentally translated into improved blood pressure. Everyone knows chocolate contains caffeine, a stimulant that can help heighten physical energy and alertness, but studies also show that it can inhibit inflammation in the brain that causes migraines.

Also regarding brain health, a Johns Hopkins study found that dark chocolate may shield the brain from damage after a stroke by increasing cellular signals. Mice which had ingested epicatechin, a compound found in dark chocolate, suffered significantly less brain damage after undergoing induced stroke than mice which had not been given this compound. What this means for ischemic stroke victims (related to clot obstructions in the vessels supplying blood to the brain, a condition known as antherosclerosis) is that the epicatechin in dark chocolate may actually protect the brain.

Flavonols are the main flavonoids found in cocoa and chocolate, as a British study found. A pilot study evaluated the relationship between cerebral blood flow and a dose of flavanol-rich cocoa, which showed a marked increase in the cerebral blood flow to gray matter. 

Raw Chocolate = Improved Heart Health… and Other Life-Saving Benefits

According to that same study, cocoa flavonols could be used to treat problems with vascular impairment, including dementia and strokes. Additionally, the ACS studies found that the polyphenols and catechins in chocolate may lower the stroke risk in men. More specifically epicatechins, which help prevent not only clotting but inflammation, is helpful, researchers say, in preventing some types of strokes.

Along with those disorders are related problems like hypertension, elevated fasting glucose and triglycerides, and high cholesterol, abdominal obesity. But rather than negative effects, scientists found that chocolate – specifically the dark unprocessed raw cacao kinds – actually reduced the risk of such disorders.

Don’t Worry – Eat Chocolate

Beyond the fact that chocolate contains the feel-good anandamide compound, there are additional clinically-confirmed reasons why chocolate has been referred to as “the new anti-anxiety drug.” Another ACS study (in the Journal of Proteome Research) revealed that one-and-a-half ounces of dark chocolate a day for 2 weeks reduced stress hormone levels. Volunteers for the study, categorized as “highly stressed,” were found at the end of the two-week period to have lower levels of the “figh-or-flight” stress hormone cortisol.

But remember that many chocolate brands are high in sugar, calories and unhealthy saturated fats, so buyer beware. First, be sure that the chocolate you’re eating is dark chocolate. There is also a big difference in chocolates’ health effects, depending onhow much you eat.

As mentioned in the Cleveland Clinic study:

“’…Be careful about the type of dark chocolate you choose: chewy caramel-marshmallow-nut-covered dark chocolate is by no means a heart-healthy food option.’ Be aware that milk chocolate does not have the same healthy effect as unadulterated dark chocolate, because milk often prevents absorption of polyphenols."

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