Categories: Nutrition

Benefits of dark chocolate

Benefits of dark chocolate. Chocolate has taken the world by storm as a vital product. And this is from cocoa, from the tropics, mainly from Africa, cocoa has become a giant plant producing yummy cocoa. As to whether you like it bitter a bit or sweet and creamy, let us get into what chocolate has to offer.

CHOCOLATE IS A TERRIFIC SOURCE OF ANTIOXIDANTS

There is a way that antioxidants content or their activities in food is measured. This is called the Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC).

The way of testing for the ORAC is not too complex, researchers simply let loose some free radicals and pitched them against some foods to see how these foods will deal with them. In all good dark chocolate, the free radicals were dealt with drastically.

What makes dark chocolate that effective is its powerful antioxidants. It has some serious compounds that are very active antioxidants. Some of these antioxidants are catechins, flavanols, and polyphenols.

CHOCOLATE WILL HELP WITH BLOOD FLOW AND STABILIZE BLOOD PRESSURE

Dark chocolate can really help in blood flow and ease blood pressure. The mechanism by which it works is that, the flavanols in it stimulates the inner lining of arteries, this stimulation causes nitric oxide (NO). This oxide causes makes the arteries to calm down, as it calms down, it causes the blood to flow properly making blood pressure to decrease.

A lot of research work shows that when you drink cocoa and take in a lot of dark chocolate, it has the ability to stabilize your blood pressure.

DARK CHOCOLATE WILL PROTECT FROM RISK OF HEART CONDITIONS

Chocolate has been proven over the years to reduce your risk of having a heart disease if you take it. According to research work, cocoa will beat down your risk of having a heart related condition by up to 50%. A research work showed that if you eat chocolate at least two times in a week, you will reduce the chance of having plaque inside your arteries by up to 32%.