If your diet is making you a humbug this season, there’s
some good news. Turns out dark chocolate, that decadent confection,
may actually be good for you!
Yes, recently conducted studies published in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition have shown that a dose of dark chocolate
will heed all sorts of healthy results. And with the holidays
just around the corner, this news couldn’t have come at
a better time.
So just for fun, I thought I’d conduct a mini-research
project of my own and get the “skinny” on our friend
dark chocolate. Here’s some of the interesting “factoids”
I came up with:
• Cocoa—the precursor to chocolate--has been around
a long time. A few thousand years, in fact. It has been thought
that cocoa beans were brought to Europe in the 1500’s by
Christopher Columbus.
• Cocoa, later made into chocolate, was given to American
Soldiers in WWII. A source of high energy, each solider was given
a three chocolate bar per day ration, according to historical
data.
• Researchers started getting more involved when studies
began showing that in addition to being a high energy food, chocolate
also seems to stimulate elevated moods. Researchers found truth
to this, showing that dark chocolate does, in fact, increase levels
of the mood-altering chemicals such as serotonin and endorphins.
• Some researchers have also gone on to conduct major studies
to prove the correlation between chocolate and a true physiological
craving. (Check out “Why Women Need Chocolate,” written
by Debra Waterhouse, Registered Dietician in 1999).
• And, the best news yet. Upon further study, it has been
found that the “flavonoids” in dark chocolate are
scientifically proven to act as antioxidants, preventing “bad”
cholesterol (LDL) in the blood from oxidizing and clogging arteries.
