Top 7 Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate
CHOCOLATE - Made from the seed of the cocoa (called flavonoids) tree, it is one of the best sources of antioxidants on the planet. This tropical fruit is a huge berry, about the size of a football, the bitter seeds are encased in a mildly sweet fruit. Seeds are fermented, dried, roasted, and shelled, and made up of the cocoa solids and the fatty cocoa butter - to become unsweetened chocolate.
Chocolate comes in so many forms, though, in order to get the most health benefit, you'll need to choose organic, dark chocolate with 70% or higher cocoa content.
How to choose healthy chocolate?
- Darker and more bittersweet, , the more cocoa solids, the more flavonoids.
- For baking, using a good quality cocoa powder over the unsweetened baking squares.
- Some chocolate bar labels list the percentage of cocoa they contain. Look at the nutrition label and find the bar with the highest percentage of cocoa and the least amount of fat.
Top 7 Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate
- Quality Dark Chocolate comes with a high cocoa content, which is is rich in Fiber, Iron, Magnesium, Copper, Manganese and a few other minerals like potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium.
- Cocoa and Dark Chocolate have a wide variety of powerful antioxidants, way more than most other foods.
- The flavanols in Dark Chocolate can stimulate the endothelium, the lining of arteries, to produce Nitric Oxide (NO) which send signals to the arteries to relax, which can improve blood flow and therefore reduces blood pressure.
- Dark Chocolate improves several important risk factors for disease. It lowers the susceptibility of LDL to oxidative damage while increasing HDL and improving insulin sensitivity.
- Regular consumption of Dark Chocolate May Lower The Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.
- The flavanols from cocoa can improve blood flow to the skin and protect it against sun-induced damage.
- Cocoa also contains stimulant substances like caffeine and theobromine, which may be a key reason cocoa can improve brain function in the short term.
