Chocolate Health Benefits

For chocolate's true benefits, it's time to ditch the foil and get 'real'

The well-publicised health benefits of dark chocolate have given many chocolate lovers an added reason to indulge in recent years.

Sales have doubled in the past five years and are worth £85 million a year in Britain alone. Conveniently forgotten, however, is the fact that a bar of dark chocolate still contains high volumes of fat and sugar.

So how do you enjoy the health benefits of cocoa without the worry of an expanding waistline?

Raw-food expert and nutritionist Jessica Fenton says the answer lies in the unadulterated beans of the cacao pod. This, she says, is the real superfood, and it is quite different from its foil-wrapped relative.

Cacao pods, which grow on trees, originated in Central and South America. Ancient South American civilisations prized them so much for their medicinal and aphrodisiacal properties, they even used them as currency.

'The dried beans are then roasted, in a similar way to coffee beans. The length of roasting depends on the type and size of the beans, to form cocoa, which is mixed with sugar and fats to form chocolate.

'Raw cocoa beans, on the other hand, are fermented and dried but not roasted, which preserves their antioxidant content.'

Dr Sarah Schenker, a registered dietician from the Nutrition Society, says: 'The lower levels of antioxidants in dark chocolate result from the effect of high heat during roasting.

'This process removes micronutrients that often have antioxidant properties and other health benefits.'

Antioxidants – found in all fruit, vegetables, herbs and seeds in varying levels – are important because they neutralise molecules called free radicals.

Free radicals are generated by external factors such as sun exposure, pollution and cigarette smoke but are also produced by the body during various metabolic processes, or in response to infection to kill viruses. These molecules can damage healthy body tissue, and antioxidants neutralise them.

Studies have shown antioxidants consumed in the diet can help protect against everything from heart disease to cancers.

Raw cacao powder has nearly four times the antioxidant content of regular dark chocolate, 20 times more than blueberries and 119 times more than bananas.

And cacao does more than boost antioxidant levels – studies have shown that it contains a third more essential nutrients than traditional roasted cocoa. Cacao contains protein, calcium, carotene, thiamine, riboflavin, magnesium and sulphur.

Health advantages of chocolate

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Health benefits of chocolate Sales of chocolates happen to be overflowing, with sales up 49% from 2003 to 2006. Using the growing understanding of the its health advantages, chocolate has been seen as an guilt- free indulgence. Among the wealthiest causes of heart-healthy antioxidant compounds known as flavonoids, chocolate really consists of greater levels from the principle flavonoids present in dark wine and eco-friendly tea.

Chocolate’s flavonoids boost antioxidant levels inside your bloodstream stopping LDL, or bad cholesterol, from developing cardiovascular disease leading to plaques. Much like aspirin, chocolate likewise helps prevent clot formation which might help to keep your arterial blood vessels open and patent. Oddly enough, once the flavonoids are removed chocolate manages to lose it’s heart-healthy benefits. In studies, whitened chocolate, which lacks flavonoids demonstrates no bloodstream pressure lowering effects while chocolates does. Observe that the milk present in milk chocolate, seemed to be found to bar absorption of those advantageous flavonoids.

To increase the health advantages of the chocolate, choose flavonoid-wealthy chocolates that contains a minimum of 70% cacao.

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