Just seeing “Molten Chocolate Lava Cake” on a menu can make your mouth water. The smell of freshly baked brownies might transport you to the kitchen in seconds. Sinking your teeth into chocolate, and feeling it start to melt on your tongue, may just feel as though you have had an out of body experience. But soon after, you may think, “I blew my diet.” Did you ever think of eating chocolate as preventive medicine or treatment?
Eating chocolate daily may be just the prescription you need to prevent and/or treat heart disease. Native Americans used chocolate in ancient times for treatment of hundreds of diseases. They took cocoa beans and ground them up to make a bitter chocolate drink. It was completely different from the hot cocoa or chocolate milk of today. Back then there was neither flavor enhancers to improve the taste nor ways to make this brew creamy.
Fast-forward hundreds of years, and we find scientists looking into the curative properties of chocolate and cocoa. The good news is research shows dark chocolate and cocoa can positively affect your heart health, as you can see below:
Benefits of Dark Chocolate:
- Lower risk of heart attack by decreasing blood clotting
- Lower systolic blood pressure (top number of blood pressure reading; shows how hard the heart is working)
- Lower LDL (bad cholesterol)
- Acts as an anti-inflammatory
- Boost blood flow through arteries
So, what makes chocolate and cocoa so healthy? First of all, it is rich in naturally existing plant chemicals called flavonoids. These flavonoids are known to be antioxidants. In plain English, oxidation is a process in which cells are destroyed, leading to chronic diseases. So, these “anti” – oxidants work against that process by protecting cells from damage.
Second, dark chocolate and cocoa can lower blood cholesterol with the type of fat they contain. The majority of fat in dark chocolate and cocoa is saturated fat, which is usually thought of as a blood cholesterol nightmare. However, this saturated fat is an exception to the rule. It is stearic acid, which has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol (meaning it neither raises nor lowers it). Also, about 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate and cocoa is monounsaturated; this is the type of fat that lowers blood cholesterol.
But wait! Don’t bite into that king size gooey milk chocolate bar just yet. The blood cholesterol lowering effect is from dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, not from milk chocolate with add-ins (e.g. peanuts and nougat). Also, make sure that it is cocoa that has not been processed with alkali; translation- no “Dutch” processed cocoa. Once you have found the right type of dark chocolate, beware of add-ins such as sugars, extra fats, and other ingredients (e.g. marshmallow, caramel, etc.) which may lower the heart health benefits by as much as 90 percent. Stick with plain dark chocolate. Although there is no government recommendation yet, most of the studies suggest eating 1 ounce of dark chocolate daily.
Since that isn’t a lot to eat, fill your plate with flavonoids from other foods. There are over 4000 known flavonoids. They are most often found in naturally deep red and green foods. When possible, eat these foods raw with peels/leaves left on them. The more you prep & cook foods, the lower the flavonoid content. You can find flavonoids in many delicious foods, such as:
- fruit (black grapes, blueberry, blackberry, black/red raspberries, cherries, cranberries, plums)
- nuts (cashews, pecans, pistachios, walnuts)
- tea (black, green & fruit)
- vegetables (arugula, asparagus, broccoli, celery, cilantro, eggplant, fennel, hot peppers, kale, red leaf lettuce, mustard greens, okra, onions,tomato)
- herbs/spices (capers, oregano, parsley)
- dry peas/neans (blackeye peas, kidney beans, soybeans)
- wine (red)
The study of the health benefits from flavonoids is in its infancy. Scientists are finding that flavonoids can also help with Diabetes (it can boost insulin sensitivity which lowers blood sugar), memory (it can improve blood flow to the brain), and in other diseases, such as cancer, osteoporosis and macular degeneration. So, have a variety of these foods daily in order to reap the benefits. And let’s face it, eating dark chocolate with fresh raspberries beats taking medication (with potential side effects) every time.
Jennifer Giffune, R.D., L.D.N., is a freelance author and professional speaker. She currently is providing nutrition counseling services for Hampden County Physician Associates at their offices in Westfield, Southwick, Feeding Hills and West Springfield.
