15 Amazing Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate That You Aren’t Aware Of

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Is dark chocolate your guilty pleasure? For some of us, it is, but do you know scientists suggest that dark chocolate is beneficial for your health?

A product of dark cocoa chocolate has a rich amount of nutrients and antioxidants. Science suggests that dark chocolate can reduce your chance of getting heart disease.

The best thing about dark chocolate is the presence of cocoa which is 70-85% in number. Dark chocolate has nutrition like Vitamin B6, Copper, Manganese, Potassium, etc.,

 

15 Healthy Benefits Of Dark Chocolate

Adding one small chunk of dark chocolate is excellent for health. In this article, I will provide you with 15 healthy benefits of eating dark chocolate.

1. Fights Cholesterol And Makes Heart Healthy

Improves Heart Health

Consumption of cocoa will give you a positive effect on your heart, resulting in reducing any cardiovascular heart disease.

Cholesterol, usually a bad sign for your heart, is caused when LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) builds up in the walls of arteries.

Cocoa powder and Dark chocolate reduce LDL, making your heart healthy and reducing the risk of heart attack or cardiac arrest.

A study done on 470 men proved that daily intake of cocoa lowers the chances of getting heart diseases.

 

2. Reduces Diabetes

Diabetes

Dark chocolate is low in sugar. The cocoa and flavonoids in dark chocolate help maintain sugar levels in the blood.

The insulin resistance function of dark chocolate helps maintain healthy arterial health, which usually is the cause of sugar.

A low amount of sugar and maintaining insulin resistance will help prevent sugar from happening in the future.

The endothelial is a vital protein that helps in maintaining arterial health. Taking dark chocolates is healthy and beneficial for preventing sugar.

 

3. Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure

Blood Pressure Monitors

Suffering from hypertension induces a rise in blood pressure, which is one reason for getting high blood pressure.

Want to avoid medications? Have dark chocolates since the flavanols in dark chocolate produce NO (nitric oxide), which lowers blood flow resistance and blood pressure.

Studies show that dark chocolate and cocoa powder’s effect on maintaining blood pressure is mild, but the development is rapid, making it favorable.

 

4. Lower Chances Of Getting Cough

Cough

Scientists proved that Theobromine, a chemical found in cocoa and dark chocolate helps in preventing cough.

Dark chocolate works more rapidly than the common cold or cough medications. Using Theobromine for cough has been introduced by doctors too.

A study was conducted by giving different medicines to people who were suffering from a common cough.

Later it was found that dark chocolate was more effective and efficient on cough than any other medicine.

 

5. Dark Chocolate Works On Depression

Depression

Quite similar to caffeine, dark chocolate consists of Theobromine. Theobromines provide energy once consumed in a more significant amount.

Another such chemical present in dark chocolate is anandamide which acts as a mood booster without damaging the system.

Phenethylamine, another mood-boosting chemical in dark chocolate, metabolizes serotonin in your body.

Serotonin regulates good mood hormones and will cheer you up to feel better. Crunching on chocolate while feeling stressed will help you get an instant energy boost.

 

6. It Will Give You Long Life With Less Disease

A study was done on 200 men for 20 years by dividing them into separate groups. They divided 200 into two groups and asked one to eat dark chocolate every day and the other to not eat it at all.

The result was that whoever ate dark chocolate regularly was less prone to diseases than other groups of men.

Consumption of dark chocolate was termed as healthy post this study and suggested that clearing heart arteries is good for the heart.

 

7. Improves Your Brain Health

Brain Function Improvement

From curing depression to preventing heart disease, it has also been proved that dark chocolate is good for your brain.

Research done at John Hopkins University concluded that brain stroke could be prevented with the regular consumption of dark chocolate.

Another healthy benefit of dark chocolate is it makes your memory long-lasting. Along with this, taking dark chocolate regularly will make your brain function better.

All this results in that dark chocolate will enhance your knowledge. You will become better at reasoning and perform well cognitively.

 

8. Powerful Antioxidant

Dark chocolate is a powerful antioxidant, especially a particular antioxidant Resveratrol found in wine is present in dark chocolate too.

This antioxidant works and fights against free radicals that bring harm to your body and skin. Free radicals are the reason for wrinkles and poor skin.

Resveratrol also makes your heart healthy. It controls blood flow making your blood pressure regularly and increasing good flow of blood.

 

9. Dark Chocolate In Pregnancy

Dark Chocolate In Pregnancy

Studies also show that dark chocolate helps the fetus to gain good health. Mothers who crave dark chocolate can provide good supplements to their babies.

According to the study, in many pregnancy cases, mothers suffer from Preeclampsia, which causes less blood supply to the fetus during pregnancy.

High blood pressure during pregnancy is normal. It happens due to Preeclampsia.

Hence eating dark chocolate will reduce high blood pressure.

Resulting in giving benefits to the fetus and will make you and your baby healthier from inside.

 

10. Improve Teeth Health With Dark Chocolate

Improve Teeth Health With Dark Chocolate

It may sound absurd, but yes, it is authentic dark chocolate that can take good care of your teeth.

The antioxidant-rich property of dark chocolate due to Theobromine helps protect the teeth’ enamel area.

The antioxidant will make your tooth enamel more substantial, which will result in long-lasting, strong teeth.

 

11. Good For Platelets

Good For Platelets

When you suffer from extreme bleeding, platelets help clot it up for you. Platelets are components present in our blood.

If platelets aren’t healthy, you may suffer from heart diseases as well. According to a study, dark chocolate makes your platelets work easier.

It improves platelets’ work of clotting. The study also suggested that dark chocolate is better than white and other kinds of chocolates.

Since the effect of white and other chocolate wasn’t effective dark chocolate, on the other hand, improved injury blood clotting

 

12. Protects Your Skin

Normal Skin

Bioactive compounds of dark chocolates are lovely for your skin. It results in protecting you from sun damage.

Flavanols present in dark chocolate protect skin from getting damaged and improve skin blood flow.

It also hydrates and increases skin protein collagen density which eventually fights free radicals to give you younger-looking skin.

 

13. Increases HDL And Protects LDL

As mentioned above in the article, dark chocolate improves the heart and its functions. LDL is related to the heart since it has terrible cholesterol present near the heart.

In a study, dark chocolate helps decrease LDL and increases HDL, good for the heart.

LDL presence is reacting, which damages tissues and other sensitive parts of the heart, like the lining of arteries, etc.

The antioxidant in the cocoa powder helps maintain this in the heart, which protects the heart from getting cholesterol, which further leads to a heart attack.

 

14. It Fights Diseases Like Asthma And Constipation

Beneficial in Asthma

Theobromine present in dark chocolate helps in preventing asthma cough. Present in caffeine and cocoa powder, Theobromine is a bronchodilator.

Since cocoa breaks into the liver and converts in tiny quantities of theophylline and Theobromine, resulting in a pausing asthmatic cough.

Chocolate rich in cocoa has a tremendous amount of magnesium. It results in relaxing muscles of your digestive system.

Resulting in a more accessible release of toxic substances from your system. Taking a high amount of cocoa-filled dark chocolate will help you with constipation.

 

15. Provides Instant Energy To Athletes

Instant Energy To Athletes

London’s Kingston University study proves that eating dark chocolate every day will positively affect cardiovascular health.

It resulted that after eating dark chocolate, the bike riders were inhaling less amount of oxygen.

Epicatechin, a substance in dark chocolate, is a type of flavanol that helps in increasing the levels of NO nitric oxide.

 

FAQs

Does dark chocolate make me fat?

Yes, it might since it has calories and fat in it. But only if your dark chocolate has added sugar; gaining weight is easy. The amount of cocoa is more in dark chocolate. But if your dark chocolate is rich in cocoa and has fewer other added preservatives, it is good for you.

 

How much dark chocolate should we eat in a day?

Indeed, it is chocolate, which means saturated fat and calories are in it. Eating 1 ounce of dark chocolate in one day is enough. This way, you can enjoy the nutrition of dark chocolate without gaining weight.

 

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Conclusion

Dark chocolate is a good source of various nutrients like Manganese, Potassium, etc. The article shows that many studies have concluded and proved that dark chocolate is good for health.

But it is essential to understand that this article only focuses on pure dark chocolate and not regular white or standard chocolates. Since cocoa is less in simple chocolates, they also have added sugar and other preservatives.

I hope this article gave a solution to your queries. If yes, let us know in the comment section below.

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