Chocolate consumption is on the rise. The feeling of it melting in your mouth and that sugar rush that comes after is second to none. There’s at least one person in every group of friends who’s a chocoholic and always has a piece of candy in their reach. Despite the widespread popularity, a majority of people also know that excessive consumption of chocolate isn’t always great for health.
What do you when you have a sweet tooth but also want to take care of your health? You switch to dark chocolate!
Today we’ll talk about the proven health benefits of dark chocolate. Here are the top five.
Dark chocolate is nutritious
Did you know that good-quality dark chocolate with high cocoa content is highly nutritious and contains fibers?
If you’re eating 100 grams of dark chocolate with at least 70% of cocoa on a weekly basis, it contains more than 10 grams of fiber. It also comes with minerals such as magnesium, iron, potassium and copper, all of which are highly beneficial for a healthy body.
Keep in mind that dark chocolate is nutritious only when it has flavanols (found in cocoa beans). Without the abundance of flavanols, the health benefits of dark chocolate can reduce drastically.
It works as an antioxidant
Due to the concentration of organic compounds in dark chocolate, it serves as a powerful antioxidant, even more than some fruits and berries. Antioxidants protect our body from radicals that are responsible for causing heart problems, cancer and various other diseases.
Food high in ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is most beneficial for the protection of our body cells and flavanols have a very high antioxidant activity.
It can improve blood pressure
Flavanols have proven benefits on blood pressure and maintaining the blood flow in the body by releasing nitric oxide.
There have been a number of studies that confirm the effect of dark chocolate on blood flow; however, you should eat dark chocolate with salt for best results.
Risks of Chocolate Consumption
With benefits also come risks, which can easily contribute to the deterioration of health, if you’re not careful.
If you’re a huge chocoholic, keep these risks in mind and make sure to control your chocolate consumption accordingly.
- Eating large quantities of dark chocolate can lead to obesity.
- Due to high cocoa and caffeine content, dark chocolate can cause sleep problems, nervousness and make you jittery.
- People who suffer from allergies may develop skin rashes or constipation due to dark chocolate consumption.
- Eating dark chocolate when you’re experiencing anxiety can contribute to worsening the condition, along with migraines and headaches.
If you’re looking to buy high-quality dark chocolate in California, get in touch with us. We deal in baking supplies, wholesale sweets and chocolates and top quality chocolate products imported from the very best chocolate companies, worldwide.
We serve in Orange County and southern California.