Is Chocolate Good For You?

By jennylee | Category: Recipes & Kitchen Tips

As Valentine’s Day approuches, we all have heard conflicting reports on whether chocolate is good or bad for you.  Since chocolate seems to be one of kids favorite treats I decided to touch on the subject.  I know we all can agree that chocolates are delicious but are they good for you? 

Most people are told that chocolates increase blood pressure and are fattening.  This is true but not for the reasons you may think of.  Cocoa butter and chocolate do not raise blood cholesterol or fat. However, when consuming milk chocolate or lower grade chocolate where a part of the total fat content comes from milk fat or various other types of fat, the cholesterol level might be adversely affected. Same when it comes to sugars. The cacao bean contains quite a lot of carbohydrates, but most of it is starch, soluble dietary fibers and insoluble dietary fibers. A very small proportion is simple sugars. Sugar is added during the manufacture of chocolate.

Even though chocolate bars, not the actual chocolates, contain high amounts of sugars and fats that are not healthy for your body, they also contain other things that actually are.  For example, chocolate contain antioxidants specifically polyphenols (similar to those found in wine) with antioxidant properties which are health beneficial. The antioxidant flavinoids are found in the nonfat portions of the cocoa bean. The flavinoids also reduce the blood’s ability to clot and thus reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks.  Chocolate also contain Theobromine is a very mild stimulant with a mild diuretic action (increases the production of urine). Please note that theobromine can be toxic to animals like dogs, cats, parrots and horses. 

In chocolate or the cocoa bean we find Phenylethylamine which is a slight antidepressant and stimulant similar to the body’s own dopamine and adrenaline. 

Cocoa and chocolate can increase the level of serotonine in the brain. Serotonine levels are often decreased in people with depression and in those experiencing PMS symptoms.  Cocoa beans are rich in a number of essential minerals, including magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese and surprinsingly to many, chocolates contain Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, E and pantothenic acid.

All in all, chocolate does give us some essential nutrients and natural mood enhancers but sadly the nutrients it does give us is not enough to outweigh all the sugars and fat that it puts in into our bodies.  Like our moms use to say “don’t eat too much candy.”  J

Posted Tuesday, January 29, 2008