Most women love to eat a lot of sweets, but eating too many sweets is not good for your health. It is recommended that you switch to dark chocolate. Do you know the benefits of dark chocolate? Do you know the effects of dark chocolate? Today, I will introduce you to the benefits of eating dark chocolate. Friends who are interested, come and learn quickly!
Six Major Effects of Dark Chocolate
1. Prevent Colds
Dark chocolate contains a large amount of theobromine, which has effects such as dilating the coronary arteries, promoting urination, stimulating the heart muscle, enhancing skeletal muscle function, and relaxing tracheal smooth muscle. In addition, this substance can effectively relieve cough symptoms, and its efficacy is superior to that of common cold medicine.
2. Lower Blood Pressure
Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant called flavonoid, which has the effect of promoting blood circulation and preventing blood clotting.
3. Prevent Low Blood Sugar
Dark chocolate is a low glycemic index food. After entering the human body, it is broken down into glucose and then slowly released in the body. This can lower blood sugar to a fasting level after 2 to 3 hours.
Researchers in Italy conducted a study and found that if healthy people eat 100 grams of dark chocolate daily for 15 days, their insulin sensitivity will be enhanced.
In addition, dark chocolate also contains various beneficial minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and copper. Therefore, eating a piece of dark chocolate when hungry is more effective than eating biscuits and cakes.
4. Relieve Diarrhea
Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant that can effectively inhibit the secretion of proteins, chloride ions, and water in the intestines, thereby slowing down water loss and preventing dehydration due to diarrhea.
5. Prevent Stroke
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the United States found that dark chocolate contains a compound that can reduce brain damage in stroke patients within 3.5 hours of onset. Furthermore, researchers have stated that people who eat chocolate once a week can reduce their risk of stroke by 22%.
6. Beneficial for the Heart
Dark chocolate contains an antioxidant called flavanol, which can effectively inhibit angiotensin-converting enzyme, thus playing a protective role for the heart. A 10-year study in Australia showed that for women over 70, eating dark chocolate once a week can reduce their risk of heart disease by 35%.
It should be noted that children under 8 years of age should eat less dark chocolate. This is because chocolate is a high-calorie food with low protein content, and the proportion of nutrients does not meet the growth needs of children. In addition, chocolate contains substances that stimulate the nervous system, which can lead to difficulty falling asleep or fussiness and crying in children.
4 Major Benefits of Dark Chocolate
Experts believe that eating a moderate amount of dark chocolate daily has four health benefits.
1. Polyphenols and Flavanols: Protect Cardiovascular Health
Nutrition experts explain that chocolate, especially dark chocolate, has a high content of natural antioxidant polyphenols. It has an anti-inflammatory effect similar to aspirin and, at certain concentrations, can reduce platelet activation and transfer free radical deposits on blood vessel walls, thereby protecting the cardiovascular system and reducing the incidence of cardiovascular diseases to some extent.
At the same time, dark chocolate contains flavonoid substances called flavanols. This substance can prevent cholesterol from accumulating in blood vessels, prevent platelet clots, and promote smooth blood flow; it can maintain vascular elasticity and prevent blood vessels from hardening; and it can lower blood pressure and reduce the formation of potentially destructive clots. Its anti-thrombotic effect is even better than that of red wine, tea, and berry fruits.
2. Caffeine: Helps Control Appetite
Experts say that the caffeine in chocolate has an appetite-suppressing effect and can promote human metabolism. Moderate intake of chocolate can create a feeling of fullness and effectively control appetite.
Among all chocolates, dark chocolate has the lowest sugar and fat content, but its caffeine content is higher than that of milk chocolate. Research has confirmed that compared to milk chocolate, dark chocolate can more effectively help people avoid high-calorie holiday foods and reduce cravings for sweet, salty, and fatty foods.
3. Fiber and Isoflavones: Regulate the Digestive System
Dark chocolate is not only an easily digestible food itself, but the fiber and isoflavones it contains can effectively regulate the digestive system.
Experts point out that the fiber in dark chocolate promotes intestinal peristalsis and helps with gastrointestinal digestion. Isoflavones, on the other hand, can inhibit the secretion of chloride ions in the intestines, which can relieve diarrhea symptoms.
Meanwhile, the polyphenol components in dark chocolate can also inhibit the secretion and absorption of proteins, chloride ions, and water in the small intestine, slowing down water loss and preventing dehydration due to diarrhea.
4. Various Nutrients: Regulate Immune Function
Experts state that in addition to carbohydrates, protein, and fat, dark chocolate also contains various minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium, sodium, copper, and phosphorus, as well as folic acid, vitamins A, B, C, and E, which can meet the body's needs for various nutrients.
At the same time, the flavonoid substances in dark chocolate also have the effect of regulating immunity, protecting the immune system from damage by free radicals. Polyphenols also have the function of regulating various human immune cells.
Scientific Consumption Varies by Person
Although dark chocolate has many of the above benefits, it is after all a special type of sugary product that is high in calories, high in fat, and high in sugar, and it contains caffeine. Eating too much is not good for your health and can easily lead to addiction. Therefore, it should be scientifically and reasonably consumed, and certain special groups should not eat it.
Experts emphasize that both adults and children and adolescents should not treat dark chocolate as a snack, but as a beneficial supplement to their diet. Strictly controlling the intake amount can have a positive effect on health.
Experts recommend that adults consume no more than 100 grams per day. Children and adolescents can eat dark chocolate once a day between meals or after strenuous exercise, with a serving size of 5 to 25 grams each time.
For certain special groups who should not eat chocolate, it is even more important to have self-control. These include children under 8 years of age, people prone to heartburn, people prone to headaches, people with constipation, diabetics, patients with gallstones, and those suffering from severe cardiovascular diseases. They should avoid or eat less chocolate.
Other Effects
Lower Blood Pressure — 6 grams per day
At the beginning of the experiment, the average blood pressure of the volunteers was about 86 mmHg/147 mmHg. Thereafter, some volunteers ate only 6 grams of dark chocolate per day — one bar of German "Sport Riegel" chocolate, which is divided into 16 small pieces, they only ate one small piece. Other volunteers served as a control group, eating the same amount of white chocolate daily.
After 18 weeks, the researchers found that the group that ate dark chocolate had an average decrease in systolic blood pressure of nearly 3 mmHg and an average decrease in diastolic blood pressure of nearly 2 mmHg, while the blood pressure of the group that ate white chocolate did not change.
Weight Maintenance — 30 calories per day
One of the concerns about eating dark chocolate to lower blood pressure is that its cocoa content is high in calories and can easily lead to weight gain. To this end, the research group only allowed the volunteers to eat dark chocolate containing 30 calories per day. At the end of the experiment, the group that ate dark chocolate had lower blood pressure but did not gain weight.
Previous research has shown that the cocoa in dark chocolate contains flavanol components, which has a blood-thinning effect similar to aspirin. Many vegetables, green tea, and red wine contain this substance, which can increase nitric oxide in the blood and improve vascular function.
Other Advantages
1. Improve an optimistic attitude towards life
Eating dark chocolate can bring people a pleasant mood, which in a larger sense reduces the occurrence of more diseases.
2. Eating it in the late stages of pregnancy can result in a smart and lively baby
In the late stages of pregnancy, eating a small amount of dark chocolate appropriately, the baby born will be significantly more cheerful and active than those whose mothers did not eat dark chocolate.
3. Maintain a pleasant mood and have a sense of satisfaction
Difference: Dark chocolate can be anti-depressant, make the human body produce a certain sense of satisfaction, and also has a certain effect of suppressing appetite.
Conclusion: After reading the editor's introduction above, do you already know what the benefits of dark chocolate are? Do you already know what the effects of dark chocolate are? The editor hopes that you can share the knowledge you learned today about the benefits of eating dark chocolate with your friends around you. What are you waiting for? Come and learn together.