Even if you would not think so, dark chocolate is healthy. As long the cacao percentage on the package is high enough, you can safely eat chocolate with a clear conscience, because research indicates that dark chocolate lowers the blood pressure, prevents atherosclerosis, and alleviates stress.
The positive effects stem from the cacao in the chocolate – the only thing special about dark chocolate is therefore that it contains more cacao than regular milk chocolate. Cacao contains the chemical compound flavanols which, according to research, is good for the heart.
Flavanols combat inflammation and atherosclerosis in the blood veins. It also causes a lowering of the blood pressure and improves the lipids in the blood. Besides cacao, flavanols can also be found in the green tea, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. However, cacao is far richer in flavanols than other foods – upwards of 10 % of cacao consists of flavanols. Cacao intake can therefore help prevent cardiovascular diseases.
Cacao can improve your memory
Cacao intake can also strengthen your memory. In an experiment performed at Columbia University Medical Center in the US, the subjects performed better in a memory test after having been given flavanols through cacao.
Furthermore, cacao has been showed to improve your mood and relieve stress. Cacao stimulate the release of endorphins and serotonin in the brain, which help us cope with stress and improve our feeling of being content. Various studies show that cacao intake can combat stress – for example did an Australian study show that eating dark chocolate for 30 days improved the participants’ feeling of calmness and contentment.
The darker, the better
Chocolate is not dark chocolate before it contains at least 43 percent cacao. However, often dark chocolate contains around 75 to 80 percent cacao. By comparison, milk chocolate only needs to contain at least 30 percent cacao, in order to qualify as milk chocolate, while white chocolate does not need to contain any.
Since chocolate also contains large quantities of fat and sugar, it is important that the cacao percent is high. Because, aside from less flavanols, when the cacao percent is lower, it also contains more fat and sugar. Therefore, dark chocolate is obviously healthier than the lighter variants.
White chocolate lack the positive effect
The only cacao derived ingredient in white chocolate is cacao butter – and this is rich in fat and contains none of the flavanols of cacao powder. Therefore, white chocolate does not have any of the beneficial effects that dark chocolate has.
The difference between the different types of chocolate were illustrated in a Swiss experiment, in which 20 male smokers were given the task of eating 40 grams of dark chocolate or 40 grams of white chocolate. Dark chocolate proved to give the participants a clear improvement in the health of their blood veins, while this positive effect did not manifest in those who ate white chocolate.
It can also be too much of a good thing
Dark chocolate is not a miracle drug. It is important to remember that chocolate, even with a high percent of cacao, still contains large amounts of fat and sugar. Therefore, one can clearly not simply live on dark chocolate, but one can easily eat small amounts from time to time.
