Dark chocolate is appreciated by a large part of the French. When eaten sparingly, it can be an ally for your body and head. At Easter you will surely eat it. Here are some benefits you didn’t know you had.
It’s a moment of pleasure after the meal or during the Easter period: chocolate. In addition to being among the foods most appreciated and consumed on a daily basis in France (more than one in three French people consume it every day), chocolate is good for your health. Both physically and mentally, you have to know how to consume chocolate correctly to be able to feel all its virtues.
Are all types of chocolate good for your health?
There are different types of chocolate, so are there just as many benefits in white, dark and milk chocolate? The answer is no. A higher concentration of cocoa and a lower amount of butter, milk or sugar make it a “purer” chocolate. This chocolate is richer in flavonoids and magnesium (read below), nutrients that provide the benefits of chocolate. So you can say goodbye to milk chocolate which is made with less cocoa mass and more sugar, and say goodbye to white chocolate which is only made up of cocoa butter, so the nutrients are not present. A dark chocolate composed of at least 70% cocoa remains the most optimal. The higher the cocoa content, the healthier it is.
Dark chocolate, good for the heart
First of all, dark chocolate is a good remedy for fatigue. It is rich in magnesium (100g of dark chocolate, i.e. 1 tablet, equals 110mg of magnesium; i.e. 30% of the recommended daily intake), this reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
Cocoa powder is rich in flavonoids, antioxidant pigments that reduce the formation of bad cholesterol. It is flavonols – molecules belonging to the flavonoid family – which have many anti-inflammatory properties. They also improve insulin sensitivity and the elasticity of blood vessels. Eating chocolate lowers blood pressure. It is the presence of antioxidants in chocolate that allows good blood circulation, fighting against cardiovascular disease.
It should not be abused, health professionals recommend one or two squares of chocolate maximum per day.
good for the mind
Brown gold also contributes to our intellectual acuity. A study by doctor Franz Messerli published in 2012 attempted to demonstrate that cocoa had the ability to increase our mental abilities. The team in charge of this study was trying to prove the correlation between national chocolate consumption and the number of Nobel Prize winners from 23 different countries. Despite the irony of this study, it emerges that Switzerland, the world’s largest consumer of chocolate, is also the leader in the number of Nobel laureates.
More recently, a study published in 2018, looked at the correlation between the action of drinking hot chocolate and the oxygenation of the brain. It has been proven that the consumption of dark chocolate would oxygenate the brain more effectively, thus obtaining higher cognitive test results. On the other hand, people who added milk or sugar to their chocolate, no change was observed.
A cure for anxiety
This is perhaps the most well-known benefit of all, by eating dark chocolate or drinking hot chocolate, you experience well-being. It is the combination of fat and sugar present in chocolate that stimulates the secretion of endorphin, the hormone of happiness. Magnesium, iron, potassium and theobromine strongly present in cocoa are known to be a weapon against anxiety.
“These endorphin hormones are linked to the presence of sugar, a precursor to the synthesis of serotonin, a neurotransmitter whose positive effects on mood are known”, introduces Jean-Michel Lecerf, endocrinologist and nutritionist for Health Magazine.