Benefits of Dark Choclolate

 

Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure

By WebMD

Dark chocolate — not white chocolate — lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Cologne, Germany. Their report appears in the Aug. 27 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

But that’s no license to go on a chocolate binge. Eating more dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure — if you’ve reached a certain age and have mild high blood pressure, say the researchers. But you have to balance the extra calories by eating less of other things.

Antioxidants in Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate — but not milk chocolate or dark chocolate eaten with milk — is a potent antioxidant, report Mauro Serafini, PhD, of Italy’s National Institute for Food and Nutrition Research in Rome, and colleagues. Their report appears in the Aug. 28 issue of Nature. Antioxidants gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments.

“Our findings indicate that milk may interfere with the absorption of antioxidants from chocolate … and may therefore negate the potential health benefits that can be derived from eating moderate amounts of dark chocolate.”

Translation: Say “Dark, please,” when ordering at the chocolate counter. Don’t even think of washing it down with milk. And if health is your excuse for eating chocolate, remember the word “moderate” as you nibble.

The Studies

Taubert’s team signed up six men and seven women aged 55-64. All had just been diagnosed with mild high blood pressure — on average, systolic blood pressure (the top number) of 153 and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) of 84.

Every day for two weeks, they ate a 100-gram candy bar and were asked to balance its 480 calories by not eating other foods similar in nutrients and calories. Half the patients got dark chocolate and half got white chocolate.

Those who ate dark chocolate had a significant drop in blood pressure (by an average of 5 points for systolic and an average of 2 points for diastolic blood pressure). Those who ate white chocolate did not.

In the second study, Serafini’s team signed up seven healthy women and five healthy men aged 25-35. On different days they each ate 100 grams of dark chocolate by itself, 100 grams of dark chocolate with a small glass of whole milk, or 200 grams of milk chocolate.

An hour later, those who ate dark chocolate alone had the most total antioxidants in their blood. And they had higher levels of epicatechin, a particularly healthy compound found in chocolate. The milk chocolate eaters had the lowest epicatechin levels of all.

What is it about dark chocolate? The answer is plant phenols — cocoa phenols, to be exact. These compounds are known to lower blood pressure.

Chocolates made in Europe are generally richer in cocoa phenols than those made in the U.S. So if you’re going to try this at home, remember: Darker is better.

Just remember to balance the calories. A 100-gram serving of Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar has 531 calories, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. If you ate that much raw apple you’d only take in 52 calories. But then, you’d miss out on the delicious blood pressure benefit.

A hint: Don’t replace healthy foods with chocolate. Most people’s diets have plenty of sweets. Switch those for some chocolate if you’re going to try the truffle treatment.

———-

Dark chocolate has recently been discovered to have a number of healthy benefits. While eating dark chocolate can lead to the health benefits described below, remember that chocolate is also high in fat. Use FitDay to keep track of your calories and nutrition as you work towards your weight loss goals.

By Fitday

 

1) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Heart

Studies show that eating a small amount of dark chocolate two or three times each week can help lower your blood pressure. Dark chocolate improves blood flow and may help prevent the formation of blood clots. Eating dark chocolate may also prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).

2) Dark Chocolate is Good for Your Brain

Dark chocolate increases blood flow to the brain as well as to the heart, so it can help improve cognitive function. Dark chocolate also helps reduce your risk of stroke.

Dark chocolate also contains several chemical compounds that have a positive effect on your mood and cognitive health. Chocolate contains phenylethylamine (PEA), the same chemical your brain creates when you feel like you’re falling in love. PEA encourages your brain to release endorphins, so eating dark chocolate will make you feel happier.

Dark chocolate also contains caffeine, a mild stimulant. However, dark chocolate contains much less caffeine than coffee. A 1.5 ounce bar of dark chocolate contains 27 mg of caffeine, compared to the 200 mg found in an eight ounce cup of coffee.

3) Dark Chocolate Helps Control Blood Sugar

Dark chocolate helps keep your blood vessels healthy and your circulation unimpaired to protect against type 2 diabetes. The flavonoids in dark chocolate also help reduce insulin resistance by helping your cells to function normally and regain the ability to use your body’s insulin efficiently. Dark chocolate also has a low glycemic index, meaning it won’t cause huge spikes in blood sugar levels.

4) Dark Chocolate is Full of Antioxidants

Dark chocolate is loaded with antioxidants. Antioxidants help free your body of free radicals, which cause oxidative damage to cells. Free radicals are implicated in the aging process and may be a cause of cancer, so eating antioxidant rich foods like dark chocolate can protect you from many types of cancer and slow the signs of aging.

5) Dark Chocolate Contains Theobromine

Dark chocolate contains theobromine, which has been shown to harden tooth enamel. That means that dark chocolate, unlike most other sweets, lowers your risk of getting cavities if you practice proper dental hygiene.

Theobromine is also a mild stimulant, though not as strong as caffeine. It can, however, help to suppress coughs.

6) Dark Chocolate is High in Vitamins and Minerals

Dark chocolate contains a number of vitamins and minerals that can support your health. Dark chocolate contains some of the following vitamins and minerals in high concentrations:

• Potassium
• Copper
• Magnesium
• Iron

The copper and potassium in dark chocolate help prevent against stroke and cardiovascular ailments. The iron in chocolate protects against iron deficiency anemia, and the magnesium in chocolate helps prevent type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.

 

———-

 

Three benefits of dark chocolate that will help you lose weight

By: Celeste M. Smucker, MPH, PhD, Natural News
(NaturalNews) TheCenters for Disease Control(CDC) reports that 68 percent of adults over the age of 20 are overweight, half of whom are considered obese. Of course obesity is also strongly linked to many other health problems including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer. The economic costs are enormous. A 2011 article in theThe Lancetestimates the annual medical costs of these diseases will increase by as much as $60 billion by 2030. While there is no magic solution to weight loss, research supports a number of health benefits of dark chocolate for this purpose including reduced insulin sensitivity, increased feelings of fullness and reduced stress and cortisol levels.

1. Reduce insulin resistance with dark chocolate

Insulin, which is released by the pancreas when blood sugar rises, has the job of escorting blood glucose into the cells. Repeated release of insulin due to too much sugary food causes the cells to develop resistance to insulin preventing it from doing its job and depriving the cells of needed nutrition. Now the body fears starvation, calls for more food and signals a need to store fat to protect against starvation. The result? Weight gain.

Substituting dark chocolate for some of the sugary foods may help reduce insulin resistance. A 2005 study published inThe American Journal of Clinical Nutritionreported on research in which 15 healthy individuals ate either white or dark chocolate for 15 days. At the end of this time those who ate the dark chocolate experienced significantly higher insulin sensitivity and significantly lower insulin resistance compared to the white chocolate group. As a nice bonus, the dark chocolate group also experienced lower blood pressure.

This is not an isolated study. Research published in 2012 inThe American Journal of Clinical Nutritionand based on a meta-analysis of 42 studies of chocolate and cocoa, supported the connection between dark chocolate consumption and significant reductions in serum insulin which caused resistance to insulin to decrease. They also found chocolate associated with consistent reductions in blood pressure.

2. Chocolate helps stop food cravings

Reductions in food cravings between meals can help prevent overeating and this means foods that promote feelings of fullness can be important for weight loss. Once again healthy dark chocolate may be part of the answer. A study from Denmark reviewed in a 2008 edition ofScience Dailyfound that dark chocolate, compared to milk chocolate, was more filling and also lessened cravings for unhealthy foods.

Sixteen lucky study subjects ate either dark or milk chocolate and then gave feedback on how hungry they felt over the next several hours. At the two and a half hour mark they were given as much pizza as they could eat. Researchers recorded calorie intake for each individual and found that it was 15 percent less for those who had previously eaten dark chocolate. The same group also noted lower cravings for snack foods (sweet, salty or fatty) compared to the milk chocolate group.

3. Chocolate reduces stress and cortisol levels

Stress triggers release of cortisol which causes the body to secrete more insulin leading to overeating. In a 2009 study published in theJournal of Proteome Research, 30 subjects who suffered from anxiety consumed 1.4 ounces of dark chocolate daily for two weeks. Urinalysis showed a resulting reduction in the excretion of cortisol prompting the scientists to conclude chocolate can alter human metabolism.