Death By Chocolate? Not Really

We think in terms of chocolate as calorie rich, fattening, ‘sinful’ and even went and named a dessert Death by Chocolate to indicate just how sinful!

But the truth is that chocolate, when consumed in the right form and in moderate quantities is actually very good for you and can be beneficial in lowering blood pressure, reducing the risk of blood clots and helpful in various other ways.

The sort of chocolate that is good for you is dark chocolate, which preserves as far as possible, the flavonoids that the cocoa bean is rich in.

It is these flavonoids that are very beneficial for health.  Cocoa, which is the main constituent of dark chocolate also contains Epicatechin which is known to improve blood flow and hence seen as good for cardiac health.

Cocoa also has very high antioxidant levels, as much as double that of red wine and three times that of green tea.

However the chocolate making process and the addition of sugar often nullifies the health benefits that accrue from eating chocolate.  Milk chocolate or white chocolate are not beneficial in the way that dark chocolate with its flavonoids preserves intact is. So the next time you feel like eating a chocolate, steer yourself towards the darker, healthier variety.