Is chocolate good for women’s heart health?

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Good news, my heart sisters! Turns out that our favourite guilty pleasure might actually be good for our hearts.  Studies come and go, but I’m sticking to this theory. . .

The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that dark chocolate (whose cocoa polyphenols contain nearly eight times the number of antioxidants found in strawberries) can help lower blood pressure through the production of nitric oxide, and also lower LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol levels in the blood by up to 10% from heart-health flavonoids in dark chocolate.

As if that’s not good enough, here are five more benefits of dark chocolate:

• it tastes good
• it stimulates endorphin production, which gives you a feeling of pleasure
• it contains serotonin, which acts as an anti-depressant
• it contains theobromine, caffeine and other substances that are stimulants
• did I mention? It tastes good and will make you happy. . .

More good news:  the fats in dark chocolate are 1/3 oleic acid, 1/3 stearic acid and 1/3 palmitic acid.  What does this mean?

• oleic acid is a healthy monounsaturated fat, also found in olive oil
• stearic acid is a saturated fat, but one that research shows has a neutral effect on cholesterol
• palmitic acid is also a saturated fat, and is the kind that raises cholesterol and heart disease risk

Thus only 1/3 of the fat in dark chocolate is (moderately) bad for you.

Yet chocolate is still a high-calorie, high-sugar food.  

One bar of dark chocolate has around 400 calories. If you eat half a bar of chocolate per day, you must balance those 200 calories by eating less of something else to keep your total daily calories the same. Or go for a 60-minute brisk walk or do 40 minutes on a stationary bike to work off those 200 calories. I’m just sayin’ . . .

Milk or white chocolate, by comparison, cannot make any health claims. Look for pure dark chocolate with at least 65% or higher cocoa content, or dark chocolate with almonds, orange peel or other flavourings.  Skip the caramel, nougat or other fillings, which just add more sugar and unhealthy fat.  Some research shows that washing your dark chocolate down with a glass of milk could prevent the antioxidants being absorbed or used by your body. And humans, by the way, are the only species who consume the milk of another species past weaning. Or anytime.  Just sayin’ . . .

And please be a good global citizen when you shop for dark chocolate.  The Ivory Coast is the world’s largest cocoa producer, providing 75-90% of North American chocolate, largely by using child slaves and forced labour working up to 20 hour days in hazardous conditions, according to UNICEF investigators. Learn more about child slavery from The Ethical Nag: Marketing Ethics For The Easily Swayed in Do You Know The Bitter Dark Secret Behind Chocolate?

Please do not buy Nestlé products – and look for organic Fair Trade Certified dark chocolate only (Ivory Coast produces no organic cocoa beans).

Foods Rich in Heart-Healthy Flavonoids

• Apples
• Apricots
• Blackberries
• Chocolate
• Cranberries
• Grapes
• Green tea
• Onions
• Red wine

And now, just for fun, here’s how to Figure Out Your Age Using Chocolate Math:

1. Pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once, less than 10)
2. Multiply this number by 2
3. Add 5
4. Multiply by 50
5. If you’ve already had your birthday this year, add 1759.  If not, add 1758.
6. Subtract the four-digit year that you were born
7. You should now have a three-digit number – the first digit is your original number, and the next two are your age!  Try it – it works!

© Carolyn Thomas  www.myheartsisters.org

Q: What’s your favourite kind of chocolate treat?

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