Is chocolate healthy?
It has always been an interesting question that many people are looking for a convincing answer. If you eat any food without having proper control, you may have to deal with some bad effects. Chocolate is not an exception. At the same time; various medical research studies have shown that chocolate, especially dark chocolate offers a wide range of benefits. If you eat chocolates that contain cocoa around 70% are extremely good for health. Here are the most important health benefits of chocolates:
Improved heart health and blood circulation
Authentic research studies have clearly shown that dark chocolate helps you regain the much needed flexibility of the arteries. You have to deal with artery clogging when white blood cells get stuck to the walls of blood vessels and dark chocolate prevents this process with utmost efficiency to make you less vulnerable to artery clogging. Since eating chocolates prevent blood clots, you can enjoy better heart health and the risk of heart attack comes down significantly. It has been found out that in chocolate eaters, the blood platelets do not clump together in a fast manner.
Powerful source of minerals
It is well known fact that minerals are absolutely essential to ensure the proper functioning of human body. Chocolate contains a lot of minerals such as zinc, selenium and potassium and, a 100 gram bar of dark chocolate offers 67 percentage of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of iron.
Optimal skin health
Some people still believe that chocolate invites pimples. It can be described as a wrong perception and you need to realize that chocolate does not cause acne breakouts. On the other hand; it offers a wide range of skin health benefits. Dark chocolates contain an ingredient known as flavonoid and it protects your skin from the dangerous ultra violet rays of the sun.
Reduced risk of stroke
A group of Swedish scientists have found out that people, who eat more than 45 grams of chocolate per week, experience twenty percent decrease in the risk associated with stroke. The antioxidant properties of chocolates fight against free radicals in the best manner and they remove toxic waste from your body effectively. A compound found in chocolates known as Epicatechin also reduces the brain damage to make you less vulnerable to stroke.
Improved protection against blood inflammation
If you eat 6 to 7 grams of dark chocolate per day, you can enjoy better protection against blood inflammation. It is mainly because of the fact that dark chocolates keep the blood inflammation-inducing proteins away for an extended period of time and various research studies substantiate this conclusion without a shadow of doubt.
Lowered risk of diabetes
Since cocoa improves insulin sensitivity, the risk of diabetes is reduced considerably. In other words, if you eat dark chocolate in moderation, you can prevent the onset of diabetes effectively.
Effective weight control
Food cravings can be controlled with the help of chocolates. If you eat a small square of chocolate 20 minutes before a meal, your food cravings can be reduced. In other words, your brain makes you feel full and quite naturally, the food intake comes down. You can also finish the meal with a small piece of chocolate and such a method of approach reduces your snacking habits as well.
What do all these aspects convey? They clearly suggest that chocolates offer a wide range of health benefits. You can eat it with absolute confidence and the highly beneficial ingredients available make it a truly healthy option. The bottom line is that dark chocolate is one of the best comfort foods that you can ever come across and the amazing health benefits make it a highly superior and top quality option available.