Why Is Chocolate Healthy? Find Out with the Chocolate Hampers of the Hamper Emporium!
Author: Nicole Adler Date Posted:22 March 2016
You may have heard the rumours that chocolate can be good for your health. If you have been wondering if there is any truth to these rumours, you may want to read on! Research has shown that chocolate can have a positive impact on your health, which gives you all the more reason to obtain one of the chocolate hampers of the Hamper Emporium. Not convinced yet? Discover studies and research in regard to the health benefits of chocolate below!
Chocolate Protects the Heart and Promotes Blood Circulation
If you do not want to feel guilty about eating some chocolate from one of our chocolate hampers, this fact will make you feel less bad while you consume a large bar of dark chocolate. A study from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology has shown that dark chocolate has the ability to restore the flexibility of your arteries as well as prevent white blood cells from sticking to the walls of blood vessels.
Stiffness of the arteries and adhesion of the white blood cells are two main contributors for arteriosclerosis. Even though arteriosclerosis is more common in people over fifty and people struggling with obesity, eating a dark piece of chocolate from one of our chocolate hampers can have some positive effects where prevention of arteriosclerosis and heart disease is concerned.
Reduces the Risk of a Stroke
We already mentioned that dark chocolate, including the dark chocolate in our chocolate hampers, can promote cardiovascular health. Another application of this is stroke prevention, because studies in Finland have shown that the consumption of dark chocolate can reduce the chance of a stroke by 17%.
Provides the Body with Minerals
Minerals and vitamins are essential for the human body, because all these vitamins and minerals fulfil more than a hundred different functions in the body. Amongst other functions, they can help to heal wounds, increase the function of your immune system, convert food into energy and repair cellular damage. In conclusion, our body could not exist without the presence of minerals and vitamins.
Researchers have discovered that dark chocolate contains a tremendous amount of vitamins and minerals, which includes potassium, zinc and selenium. On top of that, dark chocolate also provides more than 67% of the recommended dietary allowance of iron. If you often struggle to maintain your vitamin and mineral levels, a piece of dark chocolate each day could be very beneficial to you.
Helps to Reduce Bad Cholesterol
Eating dark chocolate on a regular basis can also do wonders for your cholesterol, given the fact that research has shown that dark chocolate can reduce the levels of LDL cholesterol.
Cholesterol can be divided into two groups: low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density proteins (HDL). In order to move around in our body, cholesterol will attach itself to proteins. Given the fact that our body needs fat to survive, not all forms of cholesterol are bad. However, when LDL comes into contact with free radicals, it turns into oxidised LDL. Oxidised LDL stands in direct connection with heart disease and cardiovascular problems, so keeping the LDL levels in your blood at the right level will be essential if you wish to prevent heart problems.
Dark chocolate does have the ability to prevent the formation of LDL, more specifically by preventing the free radical from interacting with LDL cholesterol in the first place. Dark chocolate contains powerful antioxidants and these antioxidants can disarm free radicals, rendering them powerless. Adding dark chocolate to your diet can therefore have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system.
Chocolate Aids Weight Loss
The statement that chocolate can help you lose weight is a big surprise to most. However, a neuroscientist called Will Clower has researched the effects of dark chocolate and claims that it can be used as an appetite suprressant.
During his study, Dr Will Clower placed a small square of dark chocolate on the tongue of his test subjects. The chocolate was allowed to melt and was consumed 20 minutes before a meal. By doing this, Dr Clower found that melting dark chocolate on the tongue would send signals to the brain, indicating that the stomach was full, subsequently leading to the test subjects to consume less food.
Even though you will not lose weight by eating a tremendous amount of chocolate, having a small piece of dark chocolate before your meal could help you with portion control and make you eat less.
Dark Chocolate Is Beneficial for Mums and Babies
Another study in Finland showed that dark chocolate can reduce the stress of expecting mothers. Many expecting mums tend to experience a lot of stress over the course of nine months, because there are a lot of things to think about. During the Finnish study, chocolate consuming mums seemed to smile more often and felt generally better than the control group, which indicates that dark chocolate can have a good effect on stress levels and your mood in general.
Cacao May Prevent or Delay the Onset of Diabetes
Diabetes is an illness many people are confronted by, so if you could prevent diabetes from occurring by adding a little chocolate to your diet, would you do it?
Scientists have executed a number of studies trying to find the connection between cocoa and insulin sensitivity. During these studies, it was
proven that consumption of products with a high level of cocoa, such as dark chocolate, enhance insulin sensitivity. This can have a direct impact on diabetes, although researchers must do some additional studies to discover how much of an impact the use of cocoa rich products can have on diabetes.
Chocolate Makes You Feel Good
We do not have to back up this last statement with a lot of scientific evidence, because chocolate has been used as a comfort food for many years. Chocolate contains a substance called phenyl ethylamine, which is basically the substance your brain creates when you fall in love. Phenyl ethylamine promotes the release of endorphins, which are the substances in our brain that make us feel good. Do you need more reason to get one of the chocolate hampers on the Hamper Emporium?
