Chocolate always has a place in everyone’s home. From making delicious desserts to sweetened drinks, it’s hard to resist the call of this yummy treat. But aside from satisfying your sweet tooth, there is also another side to chocolate that is making people want it even more and this is the health benefits attached to it, specifically, in dark chocolate.
Dark chocolate, or chocolate that has more than 70% cacao in it, contains high amounts of nutrients that are important to the body. Scientists who took a closer look at dark chocolate found that it’s actually good for the health especially when eaten in moderate amounts. Among the health benefits linked to this food include:
- It’s good for your brain. Dark chocolate is found to increase the amount of blood flowing to the brain including the heart which can result to better cognitive abilities. There are also several compounds in dark chocolate like the PEA or phenylethlamine which can boost one’s mood and cognitive function.
- It can raise your HDL levels. Another health benefit linked to eating dark chocolate is that it can increase your HDL or good cholesterol levels while reducing LDL or bad cholesterol. The antioxidants present in dark chocolate prevent oxidation from occurring which means that your cells won’t be damaged at all.
- It can protect you against the sun. We all get exposed to the sun on a regular basis, even more when it’s the summer season and we’re outdoors. As much as we would like to soak up the sun, too much exposure to the UV rays being emitted by the sun can cause skin damage which eating dark chocolate can protect you from. The flavonols in dark chocolate is the one protecting your skin against dryness and dehydration. This means that you won’t have to worry about rapid skin aging or dry, cracked skin when exposed to the sun too much.
- It has a lot of essential nutrients in it. Dark chocolate also has several important nutrients in it such as potassium to prevent cardiovascular problems, magnesium to combat type 2 diabetes, iron to reduce your risk of suffering from anemia, and copper, which also aids in preventing heart problems like stroke. Just imagine how much protection you can get from various diseases if you add dark chocolate to your regular diet.
- It has plenty of antioxidants. Our body is often subjected to harsh environments where we can pick up toxins not just from the food that we eat but from the air that we breathe and what our skin can absorb. Unfortunately, these toxins can wreak havoc to our skin as well as our health. The antioxidants found in dark chocolate is found to be quite effective in destroying free radicals from the body which means that there is less risk of suffering from the effects of having too much toxins in our system. Eating just a small piece of dark chocolate every day can yield plenty of health benefits that our body will thank us for.