Is Eating Chocolate Beneficial for Your Health?

Chocolate is a relatively common food in our daily life, and it also has high nutritional value. Some people may claim that eating chocolate is not good for health, mainly because some chocolates contain too much other substances, such as excessive sugar. Such chocolates do not have a health-promoting effect on the body. Therefore, eating chocolates with higher purity is beneficial to the body. Let's take a look at some benefits of chocolate:

1. Benefits for Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Blood Flow

Dark chocolate helps restore artery activity and can prevent white blood cells from adhering to the vascular wall - two of the most common causes of artery blockage. Consuming chocolate can help reduce the risk of heart disease by one-third.

2. Reducing the Risk of Stroke

Consumption of chocolate reduces the risk of stroke. People who eat chocolate have a 22% lower chance of having a stroke compared to those who do not eat chocolate. Furthermore, those who have suffered a stroke but regularly consume chocolate have a 46% reduced risk of death due to stroke.

3. Rich in Minerals

Dark chocolate contains beneficial minerals such as potassium, zinc, and selenium. 100 grams of dark chocolate (70% or more) can provide 17 milligrams of iron, accounting for 67% of the RDA. Chocolate is one of the sources of iron supplementation.

4. Lowering Cholesterol Levels

Consumption of cocoa can help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels, also known as "bad cholesterol," and increase "good" cholesterol (HDL) levels, significantly reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. Researchers are beginning to study the effects of chocolate containing phytosterols (PS) and cocoa flavanols (CF) on cholesterol levels.