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Good news for chocolate lovers: eating a small piece of your favorite sweet treat might come with some pretty major health benefits!
Chocolate has long been the decadent snack of choice for bakers, dessert fiends, and candy lovers alike. But because it’s so rich and indulgent, that also means that it doesn’t always have the best reputation in the health and nutrition world — in fact, it’s usually one of the first things that people with sweet tooths feel like they should limit when they’re trying to eat healthier.
But as it turns out, chocolate in its purest form (which means dark chocolate, not milk or white varieties) can definitely have a place in a healthy and balanced diet! Read on to learn all about the health benefits of dark chocolate and how you can enjoy your favorite treat while doing something good for your body at the same time.
What Is Dark Chocolate?
There are three different kinds of chocolate that you’re probably familiar with: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. All three come from cacao seeds, a highly nutritious South American staple that’s often touted as a “superfood” for its rich nutrient profile. The cacao seeds are then processed down into a cocoa powder and then used to make the chocolate products that you know and love.
The difference between the kinds of chocolate lies in how much cocoa is in them versus other ingredients and additives that are used in the processing:
- Dark chocolate is made with few or no additives, so it contains anywhere from 50-90% cocoa solids, cocoa butter, and sugar.
- Milk chocolate, as you might guess from the name, is further processed and has milk and other ingredients added to neutralize the taste. This means that it has less total cocoa solids and butter (about 10-50%).
- White chocolate has no cocoa solids at all, just cocoa butter, sugar, and milk.
Because dark chocolate is less processed than the other kinds of chocolate, it retains many of the same nutrients that are found in cacao but gets lost or reduced during processing into milk or white varieties. For example, dark chocolate is a great source of dietary fiber, as well as the minerals magnesium, copper, potassium, and iron, all of which are essential for your heart health.
But the real power of dark chocolate lies in its antioxidants. In fact, this sweet treat has more antioxidants than many other foods including acai berries and wine!
This is because dark chocolate has a ton of flavonols, a type of plant-based nutrient. These flavonols are responsible for the bitter taste of dark chocolate, but the tradeoff is that they can also come with some pretty major health benefits. Namely, flavonols are powerful antioxidants that can help fight off inflammation and cell damage that are responsible for many chronic health issues.
Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate
- Better heart healthThe nutrients found in dark chocolate are excellent tools for protecting your heart health. For example, dietary fiber is thought to help improve cholesterol levels, and the minerals magnesium, copper, potassium, and calcium are all essential for maintaining a healthy cardiovascular system.
Its powerful antioxidants and flavonols also play a huge role in protecting your heart. Several studies have found that eating dark chocolate has a number of benefits on heart health. For example, flavonols can help your body create nitric oxide, which is a gas that can help relax your blood vessels. This can then help improve your blood flow and ultimately lower high blood pressure and reduce your risk of issues like heart disease and heart attacks.
- Improves brain healthBecause the flavonols in dark chocolate can improve your blood flow, this is also good news for your brain health. Strokes are the result of a blockage of blood flow to your brain, so the regular consumption of flavonols in dark chocolate has been associated with the reduced risk of strokes as well as heart attacks.
Those antioxidants are also great for your cognition — in other words, your focus, memory, and brainpower. The flavonols found in cocoa and chocolate have been found to improve cognition in a number of human studies.
- Promotes good skinThose same flavonols that give your heart and brain a boost are also great for your skin!
Too much sun exposure can have a major impact on the health of your skin over time, with consequences ranging from wrinkles to skin cancer, which is why it’s so important to wear your sunscreen. But eating nutritious foods like dark chocolate could also help! A study found that the flavonols found in dark chocolate are effective at helping protect your skin from the damaging UV rays from the sun.
How To Use Dark Chocolate As A Healthy Snack
Dark chocolate can be used in a variety of ways, like as an ingredient in baking or trail mixes. But the best way to take advantage of the health benefits of dark chocolate is to eat it as is!
Choosing dark chocolate: The less processed a bar of dark chocolate is, the more likely it will be to have retained all those essential nutrients that are otherwise lost in milk and white chocolate varieties during the manufacturing process. As such, you want to pay attention to the cocoa percentage: choosing 70% dark chocolate or higher means that you’ll get more of the nutrients that make dark chocolate a heart-healthy snack.
Serving sizes: Your portions also matter here. At the end of the day, dark chocolate is still chocolate, which means that it has a lot of fats, calories, and sugar in addition to its flavonols and minerals. So if you’re eating dark chocolate for its health benefits, it’s usually best to stick with a small individual portion as a treat to avoid overindulging.
Key Takeaways
Dark chocolate is rich, decadent, delicious … and yes, it’s good for you! With a rich nutrition profile full of fiber, minerals, and anti-inflammatory plant-based compounds, dark chocolate makes a great snack to satisfy your sweet tooth without compromising on your healthy eating habits. For best results, eat a small serving size of high-quality dark chocolate regularly; you don’t need a huge portion to reap the health benefits.