Chocolate is a popular sweet snack. However, its high fat, high calorie, and high sugar content can bring endless trouble, making health-conscious people shy away from it.
In fact, among the many varieties of chocolate, there is one that not has more benefits than drawbacks, but can also help you fight aging and stay healthy. That is dark chocolate.
There are three basic types of chocolate: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. Dark chocolate is one with a cocoa butter content of over 50%, also known as pure chocolate. Milk chocolate is chocolate that has added milk powder, milk, or condensed milk. White chocolate is made from fat, sugar, and cocoa butter, and does not contain cocoa beans.
Italian researchers conducted a group trial on volunteers. Test data on one hour after consuming dark chocolate showed that the levels of antioxidants in their blood, including flavonoids (natural active substances that scavenge oxygen free radicals and inhibit the growth of cancer cells), significantly increased. For the other two groups that consumed milk chocolate and dark chocolate with milk, their antioxidant levels did not change significantly.
The scientists' research results show that dark chocolate contains Flavones and Epicatechin, and its antioxidant capacity is 2-3 times that of red wine or green tea.
At the same time, more and more research reports show that eating dark chocolate is beneficial for health. The Wen Hui Bao of Hong Kong reported that a medical expert claimed that epicatechin in cocoa beans can inhibit various diseases, including dementia, stroke, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and erectile dysfunction.
It is clear that eating dark chocolate is good for your health. So, many women might worry, will it cause weight gain?
Dark chocolate does contain a certain amount of fat, but most of it is unsaturated fat, which will not be converted into stored fat in the body. At the same time, during the digestion process in the body, dark chocolate also burns fat and calories. This is the secret why eating dark chocolate does not lead to weight gain.
Although eating dark chocolate has many benefits, there are techniques to it.
First, choose dark chocolate with a high cocoa butter content. It is best to choose dark chocolate with a content of over 70%.
Second, the daily consumption should be around 50-100g.
Third, do not drink milk when eating dark chocolate, as it will affect the absorption of flavonoids.
Finally, stay away from chocolate candies. Chocolate candies are not the same as chocolate. In the processing of chocolate candies, flavonoids are removed from the cocoa beans (because they have a bitter taste).