Chocolates’ health benefits stem from polyphenols. These are organic molecules that are found in all fruits and vegetables, but are particularly high in cocoa. Some polyphenols are strong anti-oxidants that neutralize oxygen radicals. The bitterness and sharpness of high cocoa content chocolate is strongly influenced by these polyphenols.
According to American scientists speaking at the National Academy of Sciences in 2004, cocoa seems to keep down the blood pressure levels of the Kuna Indians living off the coast of Panama who eat lots of locally grown cocoa that is high in flavonoids.
In a study by the University of California, volunteers ate either 25 gm of semi-sweet chocolate, manufactured by Mars, while a control group had bread. Blood samples were taken from both groups before they ate and again two and six hours afterward and their platelet function was measured. Platelets are tiny cells in the blood, which help it clot if there is an injury. In this study, researchers looked at how long it took platelets to fully close an opening and found it took significantly longer in people who had eaten chocolate. Professor Carl Keen, of the University of California, Davis, told the British Association for the Advancement of Science last year that eating small amounts of chocolate could have the same anti-clotting effect as taking an aspirin and so might reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis when flying.
Chocolate also cuts bad cholesterol. In another study, at Penn State University, which compared a diet low in flavonoids with one high in chocolate, the study found that people who ate lots of chocolate had higher anti-oxidant levels in their blood and lower levels of LDL-cholesterol — the type that is implicated in hardening of the arteries. Further research also found that a diet supplemented with chocolate reduced LDL levels.
Chocolate can aid the arteries and blood vessels. A study reported in New York to the American Society of Hypertension meeting showed that volunteers had less arterial stiffness after consuming 100g of good quality, plain chocolate. While Dr. Naomi Fisher, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, USA, believes that the flavonoids in cocoa act on an enzyme in the body called nitric oxide synthase, which helps the cocoa to dilate blood vessels, improve kidney function and lower blood pressure. In addition, Greek scientists reporting at the European Society of Cardiology conference in Berlin in 2004 said that in their study of 17 healthy young volunteers functioning of endothelial cells, which control the degree of stiffness in the blood vessels, was improved for three hours after eating dark chocolate.
So high quality dark chocolate, ideally 70 percent cocoa content, can be extremely beneficial for the health, and if you want to offset the fat content of the chocolate, I suggest having it with a glass of milk- the calcium will reduce the fat absorption in the body and also prove to be very complimentary and refreshing.
