Does chocolate, which for many is the root of life's happiness, contain ingredients that may be beneficial to our health? Or is it just as detrimental as other foods high in fat, calories, and sugar?
The answer can be traced back to flavonoids, a type of polyphenol antioxidant found in cocoa. Unfortunately for white or milk chocolate lovers, these antioxidants are most prevalent in dark chocolate. Milk chocolate requires more processing and in doing so loses flavonoids, while white chocolate, with its absence of pure cocoa all, has none.
Studies show that dark chocolate contains at least 70 per cent cocoa content, which means it contains five times the antioxidants of blueberries and even surpasses antioxidant-rich red wine and green tea.
Antioxidants are beneficial to health, and especially to the cardio-vascular system. The flavonoids present in chocolate potentially keep blood-pressure down and preventing the clogging of arteries, which ultimately lowers the risk of coronary heart disease.
The advantage of antioxidants may be convincing enough for those of us who frequently crave and indulge in this delectable pleasure. But cocoa fiends have to remember that sugar and calorie content will eliminate any sort of health benefits of even dark chocolate if it is over-consumed.
Before you go running to the nearest vending machine, it is important to remember that common chocolate bars, (especially those containing nuts, caramel, nougat, and other ingredients) are usually low in cocoa content and high in sugar and fat.
The research behind chocolate's benefits suggests moderate consumption of the sweet treat-eating a few pieces of dark chocolate with 70 per cent or more cocoa content throughout the week.
If you are merely trying to find some justifiable reason to eat chocolate without the guilty aftermath, then science may be in your favour. If however, you are trying to be a more nutrition savvy, health-conscious individual, then balancing a diet of a variety of fruits, vegetables, and grains will be more beneficial. But if you must indulge in one food not listed in Canada's food guide, then dark chocolate won't disappoint.
In our vibrant youth we may not even think of depressing issues such as heart disease, but in order to maintain good health for the future we have to start now. No one is invincible, after all, "life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get."
2008 Woodie Awards
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