Dark chocolate, unlike its milk or white chocolate counter parts, is great for your health on top of being delicious. Its higher concentration of cocoa means that it has more nutrition and antioxidants than what’s found in other chocolates. If you don’t have enough excuses already to indulge in chocolate candy, then check out these five dark chocolate benefits.
1. More Cocoa, Less Sugar
What separates dark chocolate from milk or white chocolate is its cocoa percentage. Dark chocolate is typically made up of 50% to 90% cocoa, where as milk chocolate hovers around the 10% to 50% range.
In white chocolate the only trace of cocoa comes from cocoa butter. This means that milk and white chocolate contain significantly more sugar, milk and other generally unhealthy ingredients than cocoa.
In this list of five dark chocolate benefits we’ll be going into more detail about why cocoa is good for you, but for now just know that the higher the cocoa percentage is then the better off you’ll be.
2. Fight Aging and Disease
Dark chocolate is packed with antioxidants – a term you may have heard before from discussions surrounding food health benefits. In short, antioxidants are natural molecules that prevent free radicals in your body, which are connected to symptoms of aging and a range of diseases.
This means that when you eat dark chocolate you are improving your potential to fight off aging effects like wrinkles and diseases like Alzheimer’s.
3. Heart Benefits
Dark chocolate isn’t just good for the soul it’s also good for the heart. Cocoa in dark chocolate has a high content of flavonoids (specifically flavanols) which are natural compounds found in fruits and vegetables.
These compounds have all sorts of health benefits but notably they help with lowering blood pressure and reducing inflammation. If you weren’t convinced by the other points in this five dark chocolate benefits list, then these heart benefits should warrant a little more dark chocolate in your diet.
4. Skin Protection
Among these five dark chocolate benefits, skin protection is another bonus on the list. The amazing flavanols and antioxidants we mentioned earlier also have the potential to combat the Sun’s damaging effects on skin.
Scientific studies showed that people who consumed higher amounts of cocoa were not as affected by harmful UV rays when compared to those who consumed less cocoa.
While there has been some debate about how effective this protection is, the connection is there. If you’re someone who goes to great lengths to care for your skin, consider adding dark chocolate to your routine.
5. Brighten Your Mood
Aside from being a healthy and tasty treat, there’s a scientific reason why eating dark chocolate can make you feel happy. Cocoa can increase the serotonin levels in your body and more serotonin equals more feelings of happiness.
Considering all the physical and mental health perks listed among these five dark chocolate benefits, it might just be time to start partaking in daily bittersweet chocolate treats.
