Chocolate, known for it’s wonderfully sweet taste and as an essential ingredient to the infamous Chocolate Chip cookie, has become the official “guilty pleasure” of the world. Today’s studies have now shown that dark chocolate is good for more than curing a broken heart. Perhaps the Golden Ticket wasn’t the only thing Willy Wonka was hiding because clearly he knew something we didn’t!
The Secret Behind Chocolate
The secret behind chocolate’s powerful punch is cocoa. Packed with flavonoids and theobromine, this incredible bean is a disease-killing remedy. One of the latest studies also backs up the claim that chocolate has cardiovascular benefits. The study even found that roughly one square of dark chocolate per day can lower blood pressure and reduced the risk of a heart attack and stroke by 39 percent.
Dark Chocolate Benefits
Another interesting benefit, found through a recent Italian study, demonstrates that participants who ate a candy bar’s worth of dark chocolate once a day, for 15 consecutive days saw their potential for insulin resistance drop by nearly half. “Flavonoids increase nitric oxide production,” says lead researcher Claudio Derri, M.D, “and that helps control insulin sensitivity.” Chocolate as a diabetes foe? Who doesn’t love that!?
Other wonderfully surprising benefits of chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa include:
- Decrease in stress hormone levels
- Happier pregnancies from expecting mothers
- Higher cognitive test scores
- Easing the common cold
- Dark Chocolate even offers sun-protecting qualities! Those who consumed dark chocolate regularly were able to withstand double the amount of UVB rays compared to those who ate ordinary or milk chocolate.
Of course, all of these findings do not mean one should run to the nearest candy store and stock up on every chocolate goodie. However, it is nice to know that through moderation, dark chocolate can be taken off the naughty list! The health perks of your new favorite superfood can make each tasty, sweet bite guilty free.