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01/12/2007: "The Dark Side"
A strong antioxidant, a mood elevator, a boost in cognitive function, a youth potion and the potential to reduce chronic disease? Yah, but how does it taste going down? Research is showing that chocolate has many benefits to our health. Touring a chocolate factory in Cologne, Germany last month, we got to see how the process goes from bean to fermentation to crush and then to butter. The resulting cake or butter has a wealth of flavonoids similar to those found in green tea and red wine. These compounds help to thin the blood, lowering bad cholesterol and increasing the good cholesterol levels. A recent Harvard study showed that people who eat chocolate on a regular basis have 1/5 the heart disease rate of those who abstain.
Antioxidants are measured on an ORAC scale for value to the body. A serving of fruits or vegetables contains about 2,000 units while a serving of chocolate hits 9,000 units. The Journal of Nutrition reports that women who regularly eat chocolate have increased blood flow to the skin and 25% less skin damage associated with wrinkling, sunburn and skin cancer.
Before you run straight to See’s, the bad news is that you can only enjoy certain chocolates. Most candies have high levels of saturated fat. By the time it becomes milk chocolate, it has been so diluted with milk and sugar that it is bad for you. The recommendation is to look for dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content. Still, this is good news for us chocolate lovers.