It’s still seen as a special food that is almost beyond compare. Those still consuming cacao more traditionally, meanwhile, have ignited a debate over whether chocolate can be good for our health. In particular, one study found that dark chocolate increased HDL cholesterol levels (the ‘good’ cholesterol), while another found that it decreased blood pressure for patients with diabetes. Experience the Feeling & Alertness with one bite!
That’s the equivalent of a little under one small 30g bar of chocolate. Some 100 percent cacao chocolate can taste bitter if no sugar is added. Fifty percent dark chocolate has more sugar than a chocolate bar that’s 85 percent cacao. Finally, dark chocolate contains tyramine. While headlines often over-hype dark chocolate, making it sound much more wonderful than it truly is, there is still some evidence for dark chocolate benefits.
While there’s no denying the benefits of dark chocolate, no one is suggesting that you eat it as regularly as dark leafy greens or other nutrient dense vegetables. The iron is one of the most important ones here, given that many people are deficient in iron. If you do a little digging around, you’ll often find studies that contradict each other, like one that shows how dark chocolate helps with cognitive function, while another suggests that it doesn’t.
As you can see, many factors impact the final flavor of chocolate. Consuming dark chocolate can improve several important risk factors for heart disease. They may be influenced by where the cocoa is grown, how it’s processed, the cocoa percentage, the other ingredients, and a variety of other factors. The findings show how the antioxidant effects of cocoa polyphenols benefit insulin resistance.
Some theories even suggest that chocolate helps with aging, decreases heart disease risk, and has plenty more effects. We can’t ever hope to untangle all the effects for any good, even if we did hundreds of large-scale, well-designed studies. Taurine is an amino acid that the body can’t produce on its own, and is sometimes used to treat congestive heart failure.
By improving both of these, dark chocolate should decrease the risk of heart disease as well. We also know that there are plenty of antioxidants present, along with compounds that can boost our mood and ones that may improve heart health. Endorphins - The caffeine and theobromine in coffee stimulates the production of endorphins, helping to enhance your mood. However, it does show that trends suggest a potential benefit from dark chocolate on mood.
Why should dark chocolate be any different? Apart from switching to dark chocolate, you need to make major changes in your chocolate recipe. Therefore, eating chocolate in moderation or avoiding it altogether is essential if you are susceptible to migraines. But the key point to remember here is that it should be consumed in moderation and it must be a dark chocolate. Webster agrees, noting people shouldn’t feel guilty treating themselves during the holidays, but moderation is key.
Using dairy does make this dark chocolate not a viable option for vegans or people with harsh lactose intolerance, so if you fit in these categories, you’ll want to look elsewhere. These logos certify that the cocoa used in the chocolate has been sourced from producers that comply with a specific code of conduct. Vox traces Mars’ efforts back to 1982, when the company behind Snickers and M&M’s set up the Mars Center for Cocoa Health Science, a research arm of the candy company to examine and disseminate, in part, information on the health benefits of cocoa.
In fact, many of the benefits we talked about earlier are associated with flavanols, not with dark chocolate specifically. Choosing high-quality products with a high percentage of cocoa should help to maximize the flavanols, Iron and Zinc in Dark Chocolate but there’s still no guarantee. Eating dark chocolate in moderate amounts can help in the weight loss process. Continue reading the research-driven article digging the real link between dark chocolate and diabetes.
Let us look at the health benefits of consuming dark chocolates. But, most are observational and don’t prove that dark chocolate causes those health benefits. But, here’s the catch, the flavanol levels are often far higher than you’ll ever find in commercial dark chocolate. If your chocolate says “processed with alkali” on the nutrition label, then it’s going to have fewer flavanols.
Important as these compounds are, we have little idea about the ideal dose of antioxidants or whether going above the idea does you any good at all. It’s easy to get hooked into the idea of superfoods like dark chocolate and see them as being amazing ways to promote your health. And honestly, the more we call dark chocolate a health food, the higher the risk that people will overdo it.