In a world full of bad news, here's a piece of news to take to the heart and all the way to the store nearest to you. Chocolate is good for health! Surprisingly enough there are facts to prove just that. The main ingredient used to make chocolate is cocoa and it has biologically active phenolic compounds, which have a significant impact on aging, stress management and blood pressure maintenance. These benefits have, to some extent, changed the perception of many people, everywhere.
A prime example of the negative relation between chocolate and stress is that, most people like to indulge themselves in a chocolate or two or maybe five whenever they feel pressured or stressed. Research conducted on 30 adults who had high levels of stress at the very beginning, showed a significant drop in their stress level after having chocolate every day for a month. So, a chocolate bar a day can really keep the anxiety away. To be more specific, dark chocolate works much better than milk chocolate.
One very big reason for signs of aging on the face is exposure to ultra violet radiation. Cocoa beans have a much higher level of antioxidants than many other types of food, and this high level of antioxidant can help reduce inflammations caused by the UV ray of the sun. Not only that, eating chocolate can help moisturise the skin, which can, in turn, help by reducing the appearance of wrinkles on the skin. However, it is very important to keep in mind that only dark chocolate has a high level of antioxidants and when the cocoa is used to make normal milk chocolate, a lot of the skin treating benefits are filtered away.
Chocolate containing 50 to 70 percent cocoa bean can also help regulate blood pressure. Many types of research have been conducted to study the relation between people with high blood pressure and eating chocolate. Almost all of the participants saw that their blood pressure went down to normal after having chocolate for 2 weeks. Not just that, cocoa also seems to have other heart related properties. Upon research, it was found that along with a reduction in blood pressure, there was a slight decline in bad cholesterol and a significant rise in good cholesterol. It might end up being the heart's favorite treat.
On top of all these, experts are out to find if chocolate can actually help fight cancer. As it contains an antioxidant called flavanol, it may be useful in treating cancer. However, the jury is still out on that one.
Throughout most of life, many people have only heard how bad chocolate can be for health, but thanks to new research, it seems chocolates may have another different story to tell us after all.
