The national celebration of love has passed; however, maybe the chocolate shouldn't. If you are a chocolate lover, this must be music to your ears! A piece of dark chocolate a day, keeps the doctor away?! Well, not sure I would go so far as saying that, but there has been talk about the health benefits of eating dark chocolate and recent studies that support some of the dark chocolate cravings.
Now, we are talking about dark chocolate here, not milk chocolate. Milk chocolate has a TON of sugar, and anything with a lot of added refined sugar will make you tired, slow and fat. Usually the sugar is what chocolate eaters love, but with some knowledge and a more conscious palate, I believe there is hope for renewed and re-purposed taste buds. That is, taste buds that will desire food that gives energy rather than sap energy away and not leaving you tired or ready for nap time.
Cocoa and chocolate contain flavanols, a type of flavonoid. These flavonoids act as a shield to protect plants from environmental toxins and help repair damage. Our consumption of foods rich in flavonoids cause us to benefit from their “antioxidant” powers. Antioxidants help our body resist damage caused by free radicals that are formed by normal bodily processes such as breathing and from environmental contaminants like cigarette smoke. When the body lacks enough antioxidants, the damage from free radicals occurs, leading us to higher LDL (“bad)-cholesterol oxidation (oxidized LDL-cholesterol hurts the arteries) and plaque formation on the walls of the arteries (Source: Cleveland Clinic). That's the scientific speak. Sounds good to me.
Unfortunately, not all chocolate contains these flavanols because of the process chocolate goes through to become products sold on the market. Cocoa has a bitter and pungent taste. When cocoa is processed, makers remove the taste, thereby removing the flavanols. The more chocolate is processed/refined (such as processes including fermentation, alkalizing, roasting, etc.), the more flavanols are lost. Therefore, any dark chocolate is not sufficient, but overall, dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate. Cocoa powder that has not undergone Dutch processing is also a better choice. Dutch processed cocoa has been treated with an alkali to neutralize its natural acidity and is the familiar modern form of chocolate used in ice cream, hot cocoa and baking.
Finding least processed dark chocolate can be difficult. Since practicality is always an issue, I still view dark chocolate sold in stores with some caution. Perhaps it's time to get to the source--by taking a trip to West Africa! Côte d’Ivoire is the top contributor of cocoa beans to the world, at over 35% of world's supply, and Ghana is second up, at about 20% (2006/7 season). I'm just saying.
Sources: http://my.clevelandclinic.org/heart/prevention/nutrition/chocolate.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_process_chocolate
http://www.suite101.com/content/top-cocoa-chocolate-exporters-a25974
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