By: Elaine Gottlieb for Heart1It’s dark, it’s delicious and it may no longer be as decadent. Chocolate, the candy that’s often packaged in a heart-shaped box, has been shown to promote heart health. You can almost eat chocolate without guilt as long as it’s dark chocolate – not milk or white chocolate – the only type with health benefits.
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In addition to contributing to heart health, chocolate has other health benefits:
Cough suppressant – Theobromine, a component of dark chocolate, was found to be more effective in suppressing coughs than codeine.
Controlling blood sugar – The flavanol in dark chocolate has also been shown to help the body metabolize sugar, a major problem in diabetes
Improving mood – Chocolate contains a substance called phenylethylamine which releases endorphins in the brain that elevate mood. The feeling is similar to being in love, which may explain chocolate’s reputation as an aphrodisiac.
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The magic ingredient in dark chocolate is called flavanol, a type of plant-based antioxidant that can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Flavanols are believed to slow the processing of “bad” LDL cholesterol into an artery-clogging substance. They are also believed to make blood platelets less likely to clump and cause clots. This antioxidant raises levels of nitric oxide, a chemical that is associated with healthy blood flow and pressure. The type of flavanol in chocolate, epicatechin, is more biologically active than those found in other foods, which may account for its effectiveness.
Studies show sweet results
Numerous studies have documented dark chocolate’s health benefits. Researchers from the University of California, Davis, Harvard Medical School and Germany’s Heinrich-Heine University looked at the Kuna Indians of Panama, who live on the San Blas islands off the coast of Panama. The Kuna rarely suffer from high blood pressure or other signs of cardiovascular disease, but the Kuna who migrated to Panama City developed age-related high blood pressure. The difference: the Kuna islanders drink an average of three to four cups a day of cocoa while their urban counterparts consume only about four cups of cocoa a week. The study, which was reported in the January 17 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found the island-dwelling Kuna had twice the levels of nitric oxide in their system as the urban Kuna. It also reported that higher levels of epicatechin in the bloodstream improved blood flow.
Another study published last August in Hypertension found that eating a dark chocolate candy bar once a day for 15 days significantly lowered the blood pressure of 20 people with hypertension. But to balance the extra 500 calories contained in the chocolate, participants had to limit their caloric intake of other foods.
Calories complicate the issue
Dark chocolate may be good for the heart but not the waistline, with 480 calories per 100-gram bar. Thus you may want to balance eating chocolate with other less caloric foods that are high in flavanols including tea, red wine, apples and raspberries. As the Harvard Health Letter notes, chocolate is not a health food.
The healthiest dark chocolates have the highest cocoa content, ranging from 50 to 75 percent. Dark chocolate is chocolate that has added sugar, lecithin and vanilla and can include bittersweet, semisweet or sweet chocolate. European chocolate is usually richer in cocoa than chocolate made in the U.S. In Europe, the cocoa content must be listed on the label. That may soon happen here as chocolate’s heart healthy benefits become better known. Mars, maker of the traditional chocolate treats Snickers and M&M’s, is introducing CocoaVia, a line of chocolates high in plant sterols and flavanols.
So if you love chocolate – choose dark but don’t overdo it. At least not until scientists come up with true guilt-free chocolate – rich, delicious, full of flavanols and low in calories!
