Dark Chocolate - The Many Benefits

We all know that anything that tastes or feels good is bad for you, right?  Wrong!  We've already covered how Sex Is Good For Males. Well, dark chocolate is yet another example. 

Dark chocolate is relatively low on calories and high on flavanoid-rich cocoa.  Dove is the gold standard, but almost any true dark chocolate will do.

The merits of dark chocolate are coming out in the studies almost every month, but here's a few of the most important:

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1)  Heart Health.  Cocoa, the main ingredient in dark chocolate, is very good for the heart.  It lowers blood pressure among other things. See #4 here.

2)  Kuna.  Imagine a world with no heart disease.  Well, the Kuna live in such a world and cocoa is one of their secret weapons. Read here to find out about the Kuna and the unique lessons we can live from this third world people.

3)  Nitric Oxide.  Dark chocolate increases Nitric Oxide, the stuff of erections.  Yes, it increases blood flow into the penis and that's just what you need for a healthy sex life.  For other examples of foods that do the same, consider the Peak Testosterone Erectile Strength Diet.

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4)  Inflammation.  A 2008 study showed that small amounts, one or two squares, of dark chocolate reduced inflammation, which is implicated in heart disease and a host of other ailments. [1]  See my link on Inflammation for more details.

5) Delay In Dementia and Alzheimers. The polyphenols in dark chocolate will very likely delay and prevent Alzheimers and dementia according to one recent study. [2]

6) Appetite Suppression.  Dark chocolate is highly satisfying to the appetite and can actually help you to lose weight. Researchers in Copenhagen showed that men who first consumed dark chocolate later consumed 15% less pizza, which adds up to a lot of calories. [5]  In other words, dark chocolate can actually prevent you from overstuffing the ol' pie hole.

7)  Stearic Acid.  The primary fat in chocolate is a saturated fat, but has much less negative ffects on your blood lipids than most other kinds of saturated fat.

8) Stress Reduction. Well, this is still more good news for chocolate lovers.  All you type A's out there, listen to this:  Nestle's lab found that in high anxiety subjects, a small bar of dark chocolate significantly reduced stress hormones. [3]

9) Skin. Consumption of 2 tablespoons of high-flavanoid cacao for 12 weeks resulted in skin that was smoother and more moist, which is important for a more youthful look. [4]

10) Heart Failure Protection. One 2010 study (of women) showed substantial protection against heart failure hospitalization or death in those who ate just an ounce of chocolate - not necessarily dark in this case - once or twice per week. [7] Note that eating over one serving per day was associated in a loss of all protective benefits.

11) Brain and Vision.  High flavanol dark chocolate was found to significantly increase short term cognitive and visual brain functions. [8]  For example, it improved choice reaction time, spatial memory, visual contrast sensitivity and motion detection for starters. In other words, chocolate is not just a sex booster - it's a brain booster.

"What are you waiting for?"  That's my only question for those of you who don't eat dark chocolate. It is simply one of those things in life that is too good to be true but really is.

CAUTION:  You may want to read my link on Does Chocolate Have An Ideal Dosage?  There are some strong indications that there is such a thing as too much chocolate.

CAUTION 2:  You may want to read my link on TNF Inhibitors as well. Cocoa may stimulate TNF-alpha production in some cases and this inflammatory cytokine is a root cause for diabetes, arthritis, arteriosclerosis and many other ills. However, it should be pointed out that The Kuna, who are heavy consumers of cocoa, show no ill effects.

CAUTION 3:  The only "side effect" that I know related to dark chocolate is that it can relax the valve between stomach and esophagus in some sensitive people, leading to heart burn.  Also, if you happen to be the type that actually knows what to do in the kitchen and are using cocoa in your recipes, you will generally want to avoid Dutch-processed cocoa or cocoa "processed with alkali".  Alkali processing is used to lower the naturally acidic pH of raw cocoa but, unfortunately, strips out most of the flavanol content.  One study, for example, showed that alkali processing lowered the flavanol content from an average of 34.6 to 13.8 and 7.8, respectively, for lightly and heavily processed cocoas. [6]  My understanding is that the standard Hershey's and Nestle's cocoa that you buy in the supermarkets (in the U.S.) use a processing called Broma that leaves the flavanol content largely untouched.

REFERENCES:

1) J Nutr, 2008;138:1939-1945, "Regular consumption of dark chocolate is associated with low serum concentrations of C-reactive protein in a healthy italian population"

2) J of Alzheimer’s Disease, 18(4), in-press, “A Diet Enriched in Polyphenols and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, LMN Diet, Induces Neurogenesis in the Subventricular Zone and Hippocampus of Adult Mouse Brain.”

3) J of Proteome Res, 2009, Published online ahead of print Oct 2009, "Metabolic Effects of Dark Chocolate Consumption on Energy, Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects"

4) J Nutr, Jun 2006, 136(6):1565-9, "Long-term ingestion of high flavanol cocoa provides photoprotection against UV-induced erythema and improves skin condition in women"

5) University of Copenhagen. "Dark Chocolate Is More Filling Than Milk Chocolate And Lessens Cravings." ScienceDaily 23 December 2008. 22 March 2010

6) Journal Agric Food Chem, 2008, 56 (18):8527–8533, "Impact of Alkalization on the Antioxidant and Flavanol Content of Commercial Cocoa Powders"

7) Circulation: Heart Failure, 2010; 3:612-616, "Chocolate Intake and Incidence of Heart Failure: A Population-Based Prospective Study of Middle-Aged and Elderly Women"

8) Physiol Behav. 2011 Feb 12;103(3-4):255-260, "Consumption of cocoa flavanols results in an acute improvement in visual and cognitive functions"