Here you are just before an exam or an interview or your first date feeling tensed and your palms are all sweaty. Suddenly in this anguished moment you catch a glimpse of a chocolate out of no where and impulsively you are drawn to it, before you can gather what is occurring you take the chocolate and in one hurry bite into it in the most greedy way. This sure calms you but no sooner has this occurred you have a feeling of guilt take over you. Why? This is because you have indulged in what most people would refer as a ‘not so healthy’ food. 
However, recent research into various aspects of chocolate is bringing to light the fact that chocolate is not that bad. It can have a lot of health benefits too if it is consumed wisely and in moderate amounts along with a healthy balanced diet.
Now people would ask what is it that makes chocolate healthy? Well it is the cocoa in chocolate that is the source of a lot of compounds that are beneficial to health. These include – theobromine, magnesium, tetrahydro-beta-carbolines which are neuroactive alkaloids, andamide, tryptophan, various polyphenols like catechin, epicatechin, etc.
The health benefits range from chocolate serving to prevent cough, acne, diarrhoea, improving endothelial function,preventing platelet aggregation reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases etc.
The compounds called polyphenols have been put through extensive research and have been implicated in improved cardiovascular health and arterial function and have been shown to possess antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties as well.
The different types of chocolates such as dark and milk chocolates have varying amounts of cocoa added in addition to sugar and cocoa butter whereas white chocolate does not contain cocoa at all.
A lot of funding into this research comes from big players in the chocolate industry such as Mars Inc., Hershey’s, Barry Callebaut, etc. so much so that they have even come with new chocolates that are proposed to be healthy and packed with polyphenols.
With a lot of research being done to explore health benefits of chocolates I think the future sure looks “chocolaty’.
Image: Wikipedia
Via: Immune Support
