Does Chocolate Have Health Benefits?
Author: Art Vine

Chocolate - real chocolate that is - is now recognised as
having many qualities that can be beneficial for your health.
By 'real chocolate' I mean chocolate containing Cocoa, Sugar,
Milk Solids, Vanilla, Lethicin and nothing else.

THE UPSIDE OF CHOCOLATE!

Chocolate contains high levels of beneficial chemicals and
antidioxants such as Seratonin, Phenylethylaminea, Pentamer and
flavonoids. It is also high in essential trace elements,
minerals and vitamins such as iron, calcium, potassium,
vitamins A. B1, C, D, and E as well as many nutrients. Cocoa
powder is also the highest known natural source of Magnesium.

Because it contains Seratonin and Phenylethylamine, chocolate
can be good for mental health. These substances are 'mood
lifting' agents which are released naturally into our system by
the human brain when we are feeling happy or in love. Eating
chocolate also releases Seratonin and Phenylethylamine into the
system, thus (as all chocoholics know), when we are feeling down
or depressed chocolate can provide a 'lift', instantly improving
our mental state.

Studies indicate that a chemical found in chocolate called
Pentamer help can protect against cancer.

Chocolate is very high in anidioxants in the form of flavanoids
Also found in lesser amounts in tea, fruit and red wine, studies
indicate they protect the heart and arteries from damage by free
radicals.

Magnesium deficiency is linked with hypertension, heart
disease, diabetes, joint problems and pre-menstrual problems,
otherwise known as PMT or PMS. This condition is caused by a
pre-menstrual drop in progesterone levels and it's this which
precipitates the violent mood swings familiar to so many women
(and their families). Adding magnesium to the diet has been
proved to increase pre-menstrual progesterone levels, helping
to reduce or even eliminate the problem.

There are benefits for men too, as well as the high Magnesium
and flavanoids content which are beneficial for the heart,
arteries and hypertension, studies indicate that the cocoa
butter in high quality chocolate, although technically a
'saturated fat', does not fur up the arteries or contribute to
high cholesterol levels.

Chocolate is an unsurpassed nutritional source, providing high
levels of vitamins, minerals and nutrients, a single chocolate
chip can provide enough energy for the average man to walk
about 170' or 50m. Napoleon carried chocolate with him on his
campaigns and today most armies provide chocolate in daily
ration packs for soldiers in the field. For over 100 years the
British, army have issued soldiers with emergency or 'Iron
Rations' of chocolate, containing very high levels of cocoa
(80%+), for use in emergencies. Each 'iron ration' of 8oz's -
227g of chocolate can not only provide enough nutrition to keep
a soldier going for 7 days or more, it also helps keep up moral
in difficult circumstances.

STOP PRESS Nov, 06: Results of a study by Johns Hopkins
University indicate that chocolate acts in a similar way to
Aspirin in effectively preventing blood clots in the arteries,
reducing the likelihood of heart attacks.

THE DOWN SIDE OF CHOCOLATE!

They say "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and chocolate,
like all good things in life, has it's problems too. It contains
sugar and fat in the form of chocolate butter and eating too
much of either will cause health problems. As a result,
chocolate has developed an undeserved reputation for being
unhealthy.

But, although recognised as being addictive to many people,
particularly to Women, chocolate itself is not really the cause
of the major health problems it's been associated with.

These problems are caused by the simple fact that many
chocoholics choose to satisfy their chocolate cravings in the
unhealthiest way possible, by buying heavily advertised, mass
produced, brand name, milk and white chocolates.

These products are generally very low in chocolate solids (ave
less than 20%) and very, very high in sugar and saturated fats.
The beneficial cocoa butter has usually been replaced with
Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (HVO's), and there's no question
that HVO's are catastrophically ruinous for your health. To
make matters worse, because of the very low chocolate content,
chocoholics have to eat 3 or 4 times more of this type of
product to satisfy a craving for chocolate.

Filled chocolates, both the commercial variety and, sadly, many
handmade chocolates, are some of the worst culprits, with
centre's consisting almost exclusively of flavoured Fondants
and pralines - fondant is virtually 100% sugar and many
pralines aren't much better.

The upshot is, if you want a guaranteed way to to get very
unhealthy in a very short time, this is one of the most
effective ways to way do it.

WHAT IS THE HEALTHIEST CHOCOLATE?

To find the healthiest chocolate the first thing you need to do
is start reading the labels, real chocolate should only contain
the following ingredients:

Dark chocolate should contain: Cocoa, Sugar, Vanilla and
Lethicin in that order.

Milk chocolate should contain only Cocoa, Sugar, Milk
solids/fats, Vanilla and Lethicin.

White chocolate should contain only Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Milk
solids/fats, Vanilla and Lethicin.

Flavoured chocolates may also contain a natural flavouring such
as Orange oil, spices etc, it should not contain Vanillin
(artificial Vanilla), vegetable fats or anything else.

For our purposes here, the healthiest chocolate is going to be
that which contains the maximum cocoa solids and the minimum
sugar. This would make 100% pure chocolate the healthiest
option, unfortunately this is virtually inedible because of
it's bitterness.

In practice all chocolate has to have some sugar added simply
to make it palatable. Dark chocolate containing 70% (or more)
cocoa content is generally recognised as being the healthiest
option, simply because it contains more chocolate and less
sugar.

If you must eat milk or white Chocolate, you should moderate
your consumption and make sure your milk chocolate contains a
minimumn 35% cocoa and your white chocolate contains a minimum
30% cocoa butter, with the balance of both made up of milk
solids and sugar in about equal proportions.

If you like filled chocolates, either handmade chocolate or
otherwise, choose those chocolates with fillings containing
high cocoa content, covered with high quality chocolate
coverture. Not mass produced, high sugar content Pralines or
Fondants covered with low quality coatings that barely even
qualify as chocolate.

Chocolate should contain ABSOLUTELY NO Vegetable oils or
artificial additives of any kind.

BUT ALL'S NOT DOOM AND GLOOM!

If you love chocolate and/or filled chocolates, there's good
stuff out there if you look, and as chocolate lovers become
more and more discerning, demand for the real thing grows, so
it's getting more plentiful by the day. For the healthiest way
to satisfy a craving for chocolates, you just have to be more
choosy over what you buy to eat (or for gifts) remember, the
higher the cocoa content, the healthier it is..... and the
nicer it tastes.

© 2002-2006 Aphrodite Handmade Chocolates


About The Author: Art Vine is half of a wife/husband team
dedicated to making real
http://www.aphrodite-chocolates.co.uk/. Visit Aphrodite
Chocolates website for a range of handmade chocolate gifts and
chocolate articles.