Nutrition and Health

This is news that most people have waited to hear for many years!  But the key to this message is that dark chocolate, with at least 70% cocoa, is the healthy treat. Dark chocolate contains polyphenols, the same antioxidants that are found in red wine and green tea. These polyphenols can help to reduce the formation of plaque in the arteries.

Stearic acid, the fat contained in chocolate, doesn’t increase cholesterol.  And, a recent study has found that flavonoids, another antioxidant in dark chocolate, are good for your heart.  They decrease platelet stickiness, which reduces blood clotting and, therefore, the chance of having a heart attack. Another study reported that dark chocolate can help to reduce blood pressure.

Many of you may prefer the milk chocolate over dark chocolate.  Unfortunately, the compounds in milk chocolate have not been found to be as beneficial. The difference between dark and milk chocolate is the chocolate liquor-to-milk ratio.  The chocolate liquor, which is non-alcoholic, is the semisolid mass used to produce all chocolate.  (It takes 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate liquor.)  Dark chocolate has more of the chocolate liquor than milk chocolate, which contains more milk.