Dark chocolate is loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health.   It is made from the seeds of the cocoa tree, and is one of the best sources of antioxidants on the planet.

Studies show that dark chocolate (not the sugary man made chocolate) can improve your health and lower the risk of heart disease.   

Benefit no.1. It is Very Nutritious

If you buy quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content, then it is actually quite nutritious.  It contains a high amount of soluble fiber and is loaded with minerals.  A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate, with 70–85% cocoa, contains: 

• 11 grams of fiber
• 67% of the RDI for iron
• 58% of the RDI for magnesium
• 89% of the RDI for copper
• 98% of the RDI for manganese
• It also has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium

Of course, 100 grams (3.5 ounces) is a fairly large amount and is not something you should be consuming daily and most people would not want to eat such large amounts of dark chocolate every day.   Despite that, dark chocolate contains 600 calories, even with moderate amounts of sugar.   This is another reason why dark chocolate should be consumed in moderate amounts.   

The fatty acids in dark chocolate are also excellent. The fats are mostly saturated and monounsaturated, with small amounts of polyunsaturated fats.  The stimulants in chocolate include caffeine and theobromine, but because of the low amounts of these ingredients,  they are unlikely to keep you awake at night.  They are very low when compared to coffee and some soft drinks.

SUMMARY  Quality dark chocolate is rich in fiber, iron, magnesium, copper, manganese and it does help to reduce heart disease.   It does contain stimulants, but they are basically nothing when compared to mainstream coffee. 

2. Dark Chocolate is a Powerful Source of Antioxidants

ORAC stands for “oxygen radical absorbance capacity.” It is a measure of the antioxidant activity of foods.   Basically, researchers set a bunch of free radicals (bad) against a sample of a food and see how well the antioxidants in the food can neutralize the radicals.   Some scientists have questioned the biological relevance of ORAC, because it is a figure that is determined through a test-tube type measurement that would not be exactly the same as measuring ORAC data and it’s effect inside the body.    Despite this objection, raw, unprocessed cocoa beans, do score the highest ORAC scores of any food that has been tested.   Dark chocolate is loaded with organic compounds that function as antioxidants. These include polyphenols, flavanols and catechins.   Studies have shown that cocoa and dark chocolate had more antioxidant contents than any other fruits tested, which included blueberries  and acai berries (2).

Blueberries were once considered to be the highest in antioxidants until dark chocolate and cocoa were measured for antioxidants.

SUMMARY 

Cocoa/dark chocolate has a wider variety and more powerful amount of antioxidants than does any other food that has been tested.   They have considerably more than most of the common food that we eat everyday. 

3. Dark 

Chocolate improves Blood Flow and Lowers Blood Pressure

The flavanols in dark chocolate can stimulate the endothelium, the lining of arteries, to produce nitric oxide (NO) (3Trusted Source).   One of the functions of Nitric Oxide (NO) is to send signals to the arteries to relax, which lowers the resistance to blood flow and therefore reduces blood pressure.  Though many studies have shown that cocoa and dark chocolate do improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, its effects are usually quite mild (4 Trusted source , 5  Trusted Source , 6 Trusted Source , 7 Trusted Source ).  One study in people with high blood pressure showed no substantial effect, so take this with a grain of salt (8 Trusted Source ).  Nevertheless, increased blood flow throughout the body, has many benefits including more healthy skin, more efficient brain function, more effective body organs and other benefits that have still not been determined.

Benefit No.4. Raises HDL and Protects LDL From Oxidation

Consuming dark chocolate improves several important risk factors for heart disease.  In a controlled study, cocoa powder was found to significantly decrease oxidized LDL cholesterol in men. It also increased HDL and lowered total LDL for those people with high cholesterol (9 Trusted Source ).  Oxidized LDL means that the LDL (“bad” cholesterol) has reacted with free radicals.  This makes the LDL particle itself reactive and capable of damaging other tissues, such as the lining of the arteries in your heart.  (This is in effect what sugar does to damage the artery walls within the body.)    It makes sense then that cocoa and dark chocolate can lower the oxidized LDL in a person’s blood stream.   Dark Chocolate contains an abundance of powerful antioxidants that pass into the blood or the bloodstream and protect the body’s lipoproteins against oxidative damage (10 Trusted Source , 11 Trusted Source , 12  Trusted Source ).  

Dark chocolate (with much less sugar content) can reduce insulin resistance, which is vital for combating diseases, especially heart disease and diabetes (13  Trusted Source, 14 Trusted Source ).   This alone,  is a good reason to add dark chocolate to your weekly food menu. 

SUMMARY

Dark chocolate improves the body’s ability to resist heart disease and diabetes as well as other diseases.  It reduces the chance of LDL cholesterol to oxidative damage which can in turn damage body tissues.  It increases HDL cholesterol and improves insulin sensitivity. 

Benefit No. 5. It May Reduce Heart Disease Risk

The compounds in dark chocolate appear to be highly protective against the oxidation of LDL.  In the long term, this should cause much less cholesterol to lodge in the arteries or to cause the tiny lacerations in the arteries which result in lower risk of heart disease.   In fact, several long-term observational studies show a fairly drastic improvement.  In a study of 470 elderly men, cocoa was found to reduce the risk of death from heart disease by a whopping 50% over a 15 year period (15 Trusted Source ).

Another study revealed that eating dark chocolate two or more times per week lowered the risk of having calcified plaque in the arteries by 32%. Eating dark chocolate less frequently than two times per week, had no effect (16 Trusted Source ).  Yet another study showed that eating dark chocolate more than 5 times per week lowered the risk of heart disease by 57% (17 Trusted Source ).  Of course, these three studies are observational studies, and unfortunately cannot be proven that dark chocolate was the specific ingredient that reduced the risk of heart disease.  Nevertheless,  since the biological process of how dark chocolate can reduce the oxidation of LDL Cholesterol, it is very plausible to believe that eating dark chocolate reduces the risk of heart disease.

Benefit No. 6. It can Protect Your Skin From the Sun

The bioactive compounds in dark chocolate may also be great for your skin.  The flavonols can protect against sun damage, improve blood flow to the skin and increase skin density and hydration (18 Trusted Source ).  The minimal erythemal dose (MED) is the minimum amount of UVB rays required to cause redness in the skin 24 hours after exposure.  In one study of 30 people, the MED more than doubled (meaning the skin could endure twice as much sunlight) after consuming dark chocolate high in flavanols for 12 weeks (19 Trusted Source ).  It would seem that eating dark chocolate before going on a beach vacation, might be a good consideration.   

SUMMARY

Studies show that the anti-oxidants, flavanols and other ingredients in cocoa and dark chocolate can help protect the skin from sun damage.

7. Could Improve Brain Function

More good news about eating dark chocolate and cocoa is that it can improve the function of your brain.   One study of healthy volunteers eating high-flavanol cocoa for five days, showed that the blood flow to the brain was improved and thus made the brain more effective.  (20 Trusted Source).

Cocoa and dark chocolate, though not proven indisputably,  does significantly improve cognitive brain function in people with mental impairment such as brain fog and dementia. It may improve verbal fluency that come with age.l (21Trusted Source).

Additionally, cocoa contains stimulant substances like caffeine and theobromine, which may be a key reason why it can improve brain function in the short term (22 Trusted Source).

SUMMARY

Cocoa or dark chocolate may improve brain function by increasing blood flow. It also contains stimulants like caffeine and theobromine.

The Bottom Line

There is considerable evidence that dark chocolate and cocoa can provide powerful health benefits, such improved brain function and lower susceptibility to heart disease.  This does not mean that you should immediately begin consuming huge amounts of chocolate everyday as most chocolate is loaded with artery-damaging man made sugar.   Specifically, eating small amounts daily of dark Chocolate with low amounts of sugar is what we are recommending.     

Maybe have a square or two after dinner.  If you really want to benefit from the health benefits of Cocoa and Hot Chocolate, then consider making cocoa without the sugar and calories in chocolate (without any cream or sugar) and consuming that.   Also, we would ask you to be aware that most of  the chocolate on the market is not healthy nor beneficial.   Choose quality quality beneficial dark chocolate with 70% or higher cocoa content.   Dark chocolates are known to contain some sugar, but the amounts are much smaller and typically, the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it will contain.   Please do not think that consuming wonderfully tasting chocolate is healthy; to many people, dark chocolate does not taste wonderful.  Nevertheless, dark chocolate and cocoa have significant health benefits and provide more antioxidants than any other known foods.  Dark Chocolate can be purchased at most grocery stores.