Your stash of Easter eggs could be your ticket to good health

Greetings chocoholics friends. Are you still reveling in success after enjoying an Easter egg over the weekend? Please join me in discovering the health benefits of chocolate.

Chocolate contains flavonoids, substances known to have anti-inflammatory effects and antioxidant properties that help eliminate pathogens in the body. It also contains the amino acid tryptophan, which is an essential ingredient in the feel-good neurotransmitter, serotonin. In addition to tryptophan, chocolate contains phenylethylamine. The body converts it into the neurotransmitter dopamine, which helps us to feel pleasure.

The Mayans considered chocolate sacred and attributed medicinal qualities to the dark substance. The chocolate comes from the Theobroma Cacao tree. Theo means God in Greek and broma means food, hence it is sometimes referred to as “food of the gods”. From a health perspective, cocoa is a key ingredient in chocolate. And the flavonoids are found in the cocoa tree. As powerful antioxidant substances, they protect cells and tissues from damage caused by “free radicals”, which have been implicated in the development of coronary heart disease and cancer.

A 1997 study by Harvard University researchers on the Kuna people was a key moment in attributing substantial health benefits to cocoa. The Kuna, who live on islands off the coast of Panama, have very low blood pressure, live longer, and have lower rates of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer than their counterparts. from mainland Panama.

Researchers have identified a major difference between the island Kuna and those who live on the mainland: The Kuna consume a lot of cocoa and drink an average of more than five cups of this product per day.

In addition to its cardiovascular benefits, cocoa flavonoids

may also help improve muscle recovery after

strenuous exercise

According to Liam Corr, a researcher in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield, while cocoa beans in their natural form contain a large amount of antioxidant compounds, the processes involved in turning beans into bars reduce the content. into cocoa flavanoids, lowering the antioxidant properties of cocoa. Research shows that natural cocoa powder contains almost 10 times more flavonoids than cocoa that has undergone this process.

When it comes to Easter eggs, dark chocolate almost always contains a higher concentration of flavonoids than milk chocolate. For example, a 25g serving of high percentage (over 75%) dark chocolate may contain more than 80 mg of cocoa flavonoids, compared to about 10 mg or less per 25 g for a milk chocolate egg. So where does that leave us in terms of health benefits?

Research has shown that dark chocolate and cocoa products containing at least 200 mg of cocoa flavonoids can improve the ability of blood vessels to dilate or dilate, which helps the body regulate blood pressure and blood flow to the organs.

Besides its cardiovascular benefits, cocoa flavonoids may also help improve muscle recovery after strenuous exercise, thanks to their potent anti-inflammatory benefits. A recent study found that a single high dose of 1245 mg of cocoa flavonoids slightly improved muscle recovery.

One of the main challenges of chocolate as a health food is its energy, fat and sugar content, which do not meet the government’s dietary recommendations. And much of the research on the health benefits of chocolate and cocoa has been of poor quality or potentially tainted with funding by the candy industry.

To counter this, a team of Australian researchers decided to examine the cost-effectiveness of consuming dark chocolate as a way to prevent heart disease. Ideally, they estimated that 10,000 people should eat 100g of dark chocolate per day for more than 10 years in order to lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol enough to prevent 85 heart attacks and strokes.

I’ll leave it up to more readers than me to figure out how many Easter Eggs this equates to. Meanwhile, don’t let this explosion of science put you off enjoying the rest of your Easter egg stash.

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