Eat More Chocolate for Health

Chocolate has been a favorite food of people since it was first discovered. A joke among chocolate lovers is that it is an essential nutrient. But aside from a velvety texture and indescribable taste, is chocolate good for you? Research has shown that raw, dark cocoa is. Chocolate in assorted candies or bars has been processed. It has been fermented and sweetened with unhealthy sugars. It has preservatives and other added chemicals. It isn`t good for you at all, unlike raw, dark, healthy chocolate.

Unlike money, chocolate really does grow on trees. Raw cocoa powder produced directly from the fruit of the cacao tree is a pure substance. It contains no additives and is high in antioxidants. A Cornell University study cites findings that it has two times the antioxidants of red wine.

Raw chocolate is high in tryptophan. The human body uses tryptophan to help manufacture serotonin, a biogenic amine or neurotransmitter that prevents depression, so if you`ve heard that chocolate is an anti-depressant, there is some truth to that.

There seems to be a positive link between raw chocolate and cardiovascular health. Early findings demonstrate that risk of blood clots, strokes and heart attacks is lessened in those people who regularly eat raw chocolate. One of the minerals needed for good heart function is magnesium (Mg). It is needed only in trace amounts, but in the majority of heart attack sufferers, the body`s Mg content is subnormal. Raw chocolate is an excellent source of Mg.

Raw chocolate contains oleic acid. This is a monounsaturated fat that early research findings show helps raise the good cholesterol or HDL.

Healthy, raw, dark chocolate is extremely bitter. In order to make it palatable, equal parts of raw cocoa powder, raw honey and raw cocoa butter should be mixed together. Kept in the refrigerator, this makes a healthy sweet chocolate treat. Hot cocoa can be made with a healthy milk such as hemp or raw sheep, raw cocoa powder and raw honey. Some people seem to enjoy raw chocolate without anything added whatsoever. Apparently, this is an acquired taste.

Just how healthy is raw chocolate? A study done in 2005 reported the following results:
(1) Those study patients who ate 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate daily for two weeks and a day experienced a drop in LDL or bad cholesterol.

(2) The investigators identified a lowering of blood pressure, both top and bottom numbers.

(3) Chocolate has been found to make cells more sensitive to insulin. When cells become insensitive to insulin, hypoglycemia and diabetes can develop. Therefore, chocolate seems to offer some protection against these diseases.

Other studies have shown that dairy products interfere with the antioxidant absorption of healthy chocolate. Bittersweet chocolate, if it is sweetened with a healthy sugar such as raw honey or xylitol, is the healthy alternative to the milk chocolate bars. White chocolate has none of the healthy chocolate in it; it`s made from cocoa butter. (by: Sheryl Walters)

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New Research Shows Cocoa Can Help Diabetics' Hearts

For people with diabetes, indulging in cocoa could be a way to improve their health naturally -- and deliciously. The reason? Flavanols, plant compounds found in cocoa (as well as in tea, red wine, and certain fruits and vegetables), help blood vessels to function better and could help prevent cardiovascular in disease, according to new research published in the June 3 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

An international team of scientists gave diabetic patients high-flavanol cocoa for one month and found blood vessel function went from severely impaired to normal in some people. Overall, the research subjects experienced a 30 percent improvement in measured vessel function at the completion of a 30-day trial. This is very significant, the researchers noted, because cardiovascular disease is the top cause of death in diabetic patients. In fact, the improvement in health noted with cocoa supplementation was about the same as that documented with exercise and even with many common drugs used to treat diabetics.

"Medical treatments alone often do not prevent complications of diabetes that are associated with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease," researcher Malte Kelm, M.D., chairman of cardiology, pulmonology and vascular medicine at the University Hospital Aachen and the Technical University Aachen, in Aachen, Germany, stated in a press release. "Physicians should be increasingly looking to lifestyle changes and new approaches to help in addressing the cardiovascular risks associated with diabetes."

More than 20 million Americans have diabetes, according to the National Diabetes Association, and vascular impairments associated with the disease can eventually lead to heart disease and stroke, despite good diabetes control and medical treatment.

"We are still seeing the devastating complications of diabetes with the standard medical treatments available, so we are increasingly looking to lifestyle changes and new approaches to help address risks associated with diabetes," co-researcher Paul Zimmet, MD, PhD, Director of the International Diabetes Institute in Australia, said in a prepared statement for the press about the study. "While more research is needed, this study shows tremendous potential for future flavonol-based applications."

In an editorial discussing the evidence cocoa can significantly help the cardiovascular systems of diabetics, Umberto Campia, M.D., a research associate with MedStar Research Institute in Washington, D.C., writes: "We now have sizeable evidence that cocoa flavanols have a positive effect on the health of the arteries. This is the foundation we need for doing a much larger prospective study that looks at the effect of cocoa flavanols not just on endothelial function, but also on the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other serious forms of cardiovascular disease."

Earlier published research conducted by Harvard Medical School scientists and the Mars company has shown that flavanol-rich unprocessed cocoa reduces the risks of cancer as well as heart disease.
(By: Sherry Baker)

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