Types And Benefits Of Chocolate.

Introduction

Chocolate is very popular in today's society. It has a long history, in the past times chocolate was used as a medicine.

Chocolate is produced from cocoa tree, chocolate beans is also called Theobroma cocoa.

It's consumed from 0.12 kg to 11.85 kg per person in a year in the world.

Per capita annual consumption of chocolate in United States is 5.18 kg per person.

Cocoa is the main ingredient in chocolate which gives at the bitterness, taste and benefits.

The country which produces the largest amount of cocoa bean is Côte d'Ivoire,

this country is responsible for 1.2 million tons of cocoa in 2006-2007.

Cocoa found in chocolate, contains phenolic acid more than most foods.

phenolic acid is an antioxidant which contribute 10% of a whole cocoa bean.

Anthocyanins, Catechins and pro anthocyanins are the flavonoids found in cocoa, which causes bitterness.

The bitterness of cocoa beans make it unplateable. To make it able to consume beans go through many processes which lowers the benefits.

Today what we consumed as chocolate is actually processed low polyphenol chocolates.

Now the beans we consume have 10 times less bitterness than their actual taste.

There are two chocolates when it comes to health benefits. One of them is dark chocolate and other is milk chocolate.

Let's first talk about dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate = DC

DC contains many compounds that gives antioxidant properties. 

For those who don't know antioxidant neutralize free radical damage and prevent oxidative stress.

DC contains much larger amount of cocoa than milk chocolate that's why it provides much more benefits.

100 grams of dark chocolate bar with an average of 72% - 85% cocoa content provide.

604 calories, 40 3.06 gram Fat, 7.87 gram protein, 46.36 gram carbs, 11 gram dietary fibre, 230 mg of magnesium, 12.02 mg of iron, 3.34 mg Zinc.

Milk Chocolate = MC

MC is a heart chocolate which is composed of sugar, milk and cocoa.

It contains less cocoa content and thus, less benefits.

100gram of milk chocolate contains.

526 calories, 34.4 gram fat, 19 mg cholesterol, 74 mg sodium, 444 mg potassium, 9 gram protein, 43.9 gram sugar and 6.2 gram fibre.

Now let's discuss the 

Benefits Of Chocolate

Heart disease is something majority of the population is facing. 

The two major heart problems are high cholesterol and high BP.

Flavonoids plays an important role in reducing the risk of heart diseases and chocolate is a great source of flavonoids.

The flavonoids chocolate contains produce nitric oxide in our body which dilates and widen our blood vessels,

Which increase blood flow and decrease the the chance of high blood pressure.

Some studies also found that the benefits of lowering blood pressure effect more  older people than younger people.

The polyphenols and theobromine present in chocolate may help in lowering cholesterol levels (LDL) and increases good cholesterol (HDL).

We all know that eating chocolate makes us more attentive,

but chocolate may also improve your brain function or even It may help preventing neurodegenerative disease or Parkinson disease.

Research suggest that the flavanols found in chocolate may enhance brain response in injury and disease or neuroplasticity.

Risks and precautions

Flavonols is mainly responsible for the benefits of chocolate. The flavonol content present in chocolate where is from different companies.

Some chocolate companies may have higher amount of flavanols and some have low amount.

Lower amount of flavonols does not provide many health benefits and high amount may result in some serious effects.

If you are trying to lose weight then high calorie chocolate bars is not good for you.

chocolate also contains caffeine which may disturb your sleep at night.

Dark chocolate also contains and compound cal oxalate which increases the risk of getting kidney stones.

Bottom Line

Chocolate may may provide you with many health benefits. 

Eating it in moderate amount is considered as more beneficial than eating chocolate all day.

Dark chocolate is a good source of cocoa. It contains higher cocoa content then milk chocolate, thus more benefits.

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