The Health Benefits of Chocolate

The Health Benefits of Eating Chocolate For centuries, chocolate has been 1 of the favorite sweet-tasting treat in the world and until not too immense ago, also considered un healthy. Recent studies show that cacao tree, which chocolate is made, contains potent antioxidants that evict in truth be beneficial to our health. Cacao is derived from the beans of Theobroma cacao, a tree intrinsic to South America (1). Historically cacao was being used by ancient multitude with various medicinal purposes such as interference of turmoils, heart palpitation, and prevention of infections.Cacao is an abundant source of flavonoids, a potential antioxidant, which washstand be beneficial to ones health. The benefits greatly depend on the sheath of chocolate that is consumed and the percent of cacao bean it has. The higher destiny of cacao, more health is the chocolate. The best chocolate is the puritanicest, which contains 60 to 70 percentage of cacao and small amount of sugar. Dark cho colate is proven to be dependable for the heart. A small bar of it every day helps the cardiovascular dust run well.In recent study, it has been demonstrated that the flavonoids present in cacao stimulate the production of nitric oxid (NO) which helps the dilatation of the demarcation vessels allowing the easy blood melt to the heart and mind reducing the blood pressure(2). When blood pressure is lowered, there is a reduced risk of coronary heart disorder. Additionally, the flavanoids bushel the cholesterol decreasing the bad cholesterol (LDL) in your blood and change magnitude signifi grasstly the good cholesterol (HDL), which cleans and mops up the blood vessels from the harmful fats.Also, swarthiness chocolate improves the bodys ability to use insulin which helps to prevent Type-II diabetes, the type that is caused by the bodys inability to deal with sugar. Cocoa net increase nitric oxide levels to help with insulin-stimulated up experience of blood sugars. The increas e in nitric oxide also improves the health of the blood vessels, limiting the legal injury of diabetes on the small vessels. Like the heart and blood vessels, dark chocolate wasting disease tin can be good for the brain.More recently, it was discovered that a compound in dark chocolate, called epicatechin (a flavonoid), may decrease the risk of stroke by increase cellular signals that shield nerve cells from damage. A stroke is similar to a heart attack, but occurs when the blood supply to your brain becomes blocked or reduced. This can cause your brain cells to begin to die within proceeding because it deprives your brain of necessary oxygen and nutrients.Furthermore, dark chocolate contains phenyl ethylamine that stimulates the nervous system giving to people a feeling of pleasure, serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant which makes you feel good after eating chocolate and theobromine, caffeine and former(a) substances which are stimulants that can increase your mental awar eness. Good for the memory, flavanoids, can help boost brain power and memory. The beneficial brain effects appear to result from flavanoids allude on the blood system. In essence, the chemicals stimulate an increase of blood flow to the brain.Chocolate may also prevent or slow the oxidative damage to our body. The antioxidant flavonoid helps protect the skin against suns harmful UV rays and pollution, soothes inflammation such as acne, and prevents wrinkles by increasing the blood flow, restoring collagen and improving the show of the skin. (3) Also, some studies conducted in Europe, Asia, and North America brook found that people who eat a diet rich in flavonoids from chocolate progress to lower incidents of cancer than those who eat fewer flavonoids. Lastly, dark chocolate can help reduce weight gain in the body.Rich in fiber, dark chocolate can actually help keep you lavish, so you can resist eating more food than you need. It also can take longer to chew, giving your brain time to get the signal that you have had enough to eat. To Sum up, eating dark chocolate has various health benefits. It contains high concentrations of beneficial flavonoids that may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and certain cancer. However it should be consumed in moderation to receive the full potential of these health benefits. References 1. Dillinger TL, Barriga P, Escarcega S, et al. Food of the gods cure for humanity?A pagan history of the medicinal and ritual use of chocolate. J Nutr 2000 130(suppl)2057S2072S 2. http//www. aarp. org/health/medical-research/info-03-2011/dark-chocolate-can-help-lower-your-blood-pressure. hypertext markup language 3. http//www. cnn. com/2006/HEALTH/12/20/health. chocolate/ 4. http//img. pathfinder. gr/clubs/files/4093/6835. pdf 5. http//mydrchocolate. soundconcepts. com/research/rs_rwhateat. htmcardio 6. http//www. dark-chocolate-antioxidant. com/ 7. http//EzineArticles. com/844267 8. http//mydrchocolate. soundconcepts. com/resear ch/rs_rwhateat. htmother