Lucy Yaccarino
First Draft
Chocolate is a delicacy. A food for the Gods. Could it be healthy for you, too?
Recent studies have shown that dark chocolate can improve your health. It can boost your
Vascular System and certain ingredients have special health benefits. Chocolate can
increase blood flow to the brain and heart, lower blood pressure, and can reduce the risk
of heart disease. All of these things sound amazing, but there is something else. The only
way to get these health advantages is to eat dark, pure, unprocessed chocolate. Why not
enjoy a few ounces of dark chocolate to improve your health?
One reason chocolate can be considered healthy is because it betters your vascular
system and decreases your risk for disease. Ingredients found in the cocoa bean called
flavonols and flavonoids increase blood flow to the heart and brain. According to
my.clevelandclinic.org, “Flavonols have other potential influences on vascular health,
such as lowering blood pressure, improving, blood flow to the brain and heart, making
blood plattels less sticky and able to clot.” The author is explaining the excellent effects
of the flavonols in the cocoa bean to the body. Also, dark chocolate can lower blood
pressure and even fight cancer cells from spreading. The dailybeast.com states, “Cocoa
contains a compound called Pentameric Procyamidin, or pentamer, which disrupts cancer
cell’s ability to spread.” Also on curetoday.com, “In a recent study published in
Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, rats that were fed a cocoa-rich diet had
significantly reduced numbers of markers for colon cancer. Researchers concluded that
cocoa can stop cell-signaling pathways involved in tumor formation and seems capable of
reducing oxidative stress.” Chocolate can help vascular health and reduce the risk of
cancer. Reducing the risk of disease and improving vascular health are two things the
body needs to be healthy. Dark chocolate can do both of these things.
Another reason why chocolate can be regarded as a health food is because of
certain special ingredients. Firstly, “The fat in chocolate comes from cocoa butter (a heart
healthy monounsaturated fat).” –clevelandclinic.com. Studies have shown that eating
monounsaturated fats can improve blood cholesterol, decrease chances of heart disease,
and help blood sugar control according to themayoclinic.com. Another ingredient that
makes chocolate healthy is flavonols. They are found in the cocoa bean. The more the
chocolate is processed, the more it loses its flavonols. Flavonols have many health
benefits such as reducing risk for heart disease and lowering blood pressure. Certain
ingredients in chocolate give certain health benefits.
Some may say that chocolate is bad for you because it has sugar and fat in it.
However, the chocolate that is healthy for you has low amounts of sugar, because it was
only minimally processed. The reason to eat darker more unprocessed chocolate is first, it
has less sugar in it, and second the flavonols have been better preserved. So, yes some
chocolates have high amounts of sugar in them, but these are not the ones that can lower
your risk of heart disease and fight cancer, dark chocolate does that. People who think
chocolate is unhealthy because it has fat in it are mistaken. The fat in chocolate come
from the cocoa butter. As mentioned before, cocoa butter “Improves blood cholesterol
levels which can decrease your risk of heart disease. Research also shows that
monounsaturated fats may benefit insulin levels and blood sugar control.” Overall, only
dark chocolate can give the major health benefits. Stay away from heavily processed milk
and white chocolates because they have little to no health benefits.
All in all, dark, pure, unprocessed chocolate can give many health benefits