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Is it really that healthy and dark?!

Written By Sandra on Thursday 20 November 2008 | 13:02


We are all aware of the well known fact that dark chocolate is indeed healthy, and it benefits the state of our cardiovascular system , it lowers our blood pressure and it's full of antioxidants - and when we honestly think about it, we must ask ourselves how many times we used this excuse to eat chocolate more then we should have.


Medical journals (like The Lancet) published proofs that will surely lower us to the ground from our sweet, chocolate cloud.


Dark chocolate is indeed healthy and good and it mainly benefits our health because of one antioxidant called Flavanol. Flavanol is also the reason why is dark chocolate so bitter. To get rid off unwanted bitterness, chocolate and confectionery makers very often take out those flavanols and in this way they take away all the benefits chocolate can give us. The worst thing about it is the fact that chocolate labels often don't show the information whether the flavanols are in the chocolate ingredients or not.

These are mostly good news for all dark chocolate lovers. Unfortunately, we can't say the same thing for regular milk chocolate or white chocolate. It's very rare for those two beauties to be left with flavanols - but they are still rich with fat, sugar and calories, which can be very "helpful" in getting some of that extra pounds (against which we have been fighting past several months).

This is not the end - seemingly black chocolate can be a great imposture. When making chocolate, manufactures often mix special additives which dim natural cocoa mass, while bitter flavanols have been devoid.


So, what should we do? Must we stop eating chocolate?


I don't think so - but, we can help ourselves in a very simple way. During our next chocolate shopping take a note of label about the product and try to buy a chocolate that has the least additives as possible and with more cocoa parts in it.

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2 comments :

Anonymous said...

Yes, dark chocolate can be healthy in small amounts!
(But not milk chocolate!:)

Anonymous said...

Like everything else, it has to be in moderation. But go ahead and enjoy some dark chocolate...