The Benefits of Eating Chocolate

If you love chocolates and have a sweet tooth, now it is time to rejoice. This is because chocolate can be good for you – as it has many health benefits. And so it means that you can now incorporate it into a regular part of your daily diet.

There are many health benefits to eating chocolate.

Here are some of the benefits:

1) Prevents cancer

Dark chocolates especially, have been found to be rich in antioxidants (polyphenols) – even more so than most foods known to be rich in antioxidants, such as blueberries and green tea.

What are antioxidants? These are basically chemicals that help to block the activity of, and destroy the harmful free radicals in the body. Free radicals, which are unfortunately formed as part of the body’s natural by-product, can cause damage or harm to cells, and may eventually lead to the development of cancer. So by consuming chocolate, you are helping in your body’s defence against the development of cancer.

2) Reduces blood pressure

Chocolate contains flavonoids which stimulate the natural production of Nitric Oxide by the body. The role of Nitric Oxide is that it lowers blood pressure by producing signals and sending them to the arteries to tell them to relax, and thus lowering the resistance to blood flow in the process.

3) Improves your mental performance

Besides lowering your blood pressure, the flavonoids contained in chocolate also help to improve your brain’s mental performance – which is good to offset old-age ailments such as dementia.

4) Good for your skin

The flavonoids found in chocolate also help to protect you, to some extent, from the harmful Ultra Violet rays of the sun and keep acne at bay. So it means that if you eat chocolates regularly – and use sunscreen – then it will mean that you are getting double the protection from the harmful sun’s rays.

5) Keep the bones strong

Chocolate contains calcium, which helps to keep your bones strong. In fact, for example, a 50 gram bar of white chocolate has about one sixth of the recommended daily intake of calcium.

6) It prevents you from overeating

Chocolate has a low glycemic index (GI), which means that it takes longer time to digest so you will feel fuller for a longer period of time when you snack on it. As a result, you will be less likely to binge on unhealthy stuff in between meals and overeat during meal times.

As a result, eating chocolate may help to control your weight.

7) Chocolate controls coughing

Chocolate contains the chemical theobromine, which reacts directly with and controls the part of your brain that causes coughing fits – this is the vagus nerve, one of your 12 cranial nerves in the body that extends from the brain stem to the abdomen. So when you have a cough, you could perhaps consider having chocolates – to help keep it at bay.