All your life you probably heard about how bad chocolate is for you. It rots your teeth, gives you zits, makes you fat, brings on diabetes, raises your bad cholesterol. On and on. We think it’s time to stand up for poor, maligned Chocolate!
Centuries ago, the Olmec peoples of Central America (predecessors to the Maya) knew the value of chocolate. In fact, they cultivated cacao trees. Evidently they also drank lots of cocoa, especially connected with important ceremonies involving birth, marriage and death. Perhaps the Aztec habit of pairing hot chocolate with human sacrifice had something to do with the modern belief that candy bars are bad for us.
New studies show…
Recently medically documented research has shown that daily consumption of chocolate ‘may be beneficial’. Some high points:
Antioxidants
Dark chocolate is rapidly becoming a health food. Really! The higher the cocoa content, the less sugar is needed for pleasant enjoyment. Therefore, more health benefits and better overall health, including:
- Lower cholesterol levels
- Prevent memory decline
- Reduce blood pressure
Rashed Latif expanded on this in the Netherlands Journal of Medicine. Further revelations came from Joseph Nordqvist in a 2016 article from Medical News Today.
Stroke Prevention
A Canadian study involving 44,489 individuals revealed surprising results. People who ate chocolate were 22 percent less likely to suffer a stroke than those who didn’t. Also, those who had a stroke but regularly ate chocolate were 46 percent less likely to die from the stroke.
A 2015 study, published in the journal Heart, followed the health of 25,000 men and women. Eating up to 100 grams of chocolate each day suggested a lower risk of heart disease and stroke.
Protect Your Baby
A study presented at the 2016 Pregnancy Meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine in Atlanta, GA concluded that eating 30gm of chocolate every day during pregnancy might enhance fetal growth and development.
Jocks and Chocolate
Research published in The Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition suggests that dark chocolate can improve performance in fitness training. Worth a try, we’d say! Legal, and less fattening than spaghetti.
Caveat Eater
There’s always one wet blanket, and The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tried to wrap us in it. In a study carried out to identify the relationship between chocolate consumption and bone density in older women, the authors found a link.
Their conclusion: “older women who consume chocolate daily had lower bone density and strength.”
Frankly, we think that ‘older women’ have earned the right to eat what they please. And ‘lower’ is a subjective term, remember. Lower than what, and how much lower?
True enough, the Chocolate Studies should be scrutinized more closely to assure that the healthful properties of chocolate can be established. We should scientifically allay any doubts from those do-gooders, determined to save us from ourselves. Meanwhile, the mere mention that our beloved, delicious chocolate ‘may be beneficial’ is good enough for us.
We’ll close with a bit of logic, borrowed from the Facebook wall.
Vegetables come from plants. Trees are plants. Chocolate comes from trees. Thus chocolate is a vegetable. Eat your vegetables.
You’re welcome!
With love,
Stephanie
