Chocolates have always been a source of a treat or something that is being distributed with each other on special occasions. Children love them, elderly and adults cherish them whenever presented, but did you know that there is a type of chocolate out there that despite the fact is chocolate provides with a lot of benefits in terms of health?
Yes, it is dark chocolate, it is the purest form of chocolate that is known to mankind. Made from the bitter seeds of the cocoa tree it is the best source of antioxidants and various other essential nutrients and elements, to begin with. Dark chocolate is very popular now a day because it contains very little carb content, that makes it perfect dessert for constrictive low carb diets such as keto diet. Dark chocolate on keto diet or atkins diet is a fantastic choice if you’re looking for some delicious foods while maintaining a low carb diet.
It has several tempting benefits but the most exclusive are listed below;
- Extremely nutritious
A 100 gram serving of dark chocolate can nearly fulfill all of your nutrients needs, to begin with, it can provide you with Iron, magnesium, copper, zinc, selenium, and phosphorus to begin with. All of these are extremely nutritious compounds and minerals that can be made available to the human body. Despite making all these elements available to you the dark chocolate has the effect of providing you with moderate to extreme amounts of sugars so it is best if you would consume it in a moderate amount.
- Effective source of antioxidants
As explained earlier it is the most obvious and potential benefit of consuming dark chocolate, antioxidants are vital because these take care of the free radicals that are available within our body. These free radicals cause oxidation and development of fat and other toxic elements which is why the availability of the antioxidants can be chartered as a great defense against this problem. Dark chocolate being surplus in the number and amount of antioxidants that it has can very well be addressed as a healthy diet or meal.
- Lowering of blood pressure
Both hypertension and blood pressure are extremely off-putting, it means that if left unchecked these conditions can grow more severe and can end up developing into a major heart problem. Dark chocolate has various flavanols within it that can activate the production of the nitric oxide, it will send signals to the arteries to relax that will reduce the restriction of the blood flow while allowing it to flow normally, it will also reduce the blood pressure and keep it within an optimum range but the effects are usually mild, to begin with.
- Raised HDL and control LDL
HDL is good cholesterol and its abundance can actually help the body to streamline various processes such as the immune system and causing excessive fat to be broken and then dissolved. While on the other hand LDL is bad cholesterol which causes free radicals, the resistance of insulin is another leading factor that will chip in due to the abundance of the LDL cholesterol within the body. Dark chocolate takes care of the LDL cholesterol and allows the body to relax while also preventing diabetes.