A growing body of research, cited recently by the American Heart Association, suggests these antioxidants can lower high blood pressure, and may lower "bad" cholesterol too. These are the same kind of antioxidants found in your "medicinal" glass of red wine or green tea. Chocolate contains antioxidants known as polyphenols or flavonoids. The darker the chocolate, the more concentrated they are. There are clearly better routes to low cholesterol than the chocolate counter.Īnother popular claim is that chocolate is bulging with antioxidants that can improve your heart health. Indeed, the average (54g) bar of commercial milk chocolate contains 17g of fat, of which 10g is saturated. Most commercial chocolate bars, however, contain only about 20% cocoa butter, along with a dollop of bad fat that can be catastrophic for your heart. Darker, posher chocolates contain 70% cocoa butter, which provides stearic acid. Sadly, this does not mean a Mars a day will melt the bad cholesterol away. This does not raise the level of LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, in your blood, and may even lower it. However, some of this fat comes from stearic acid, which is converted by the liver into a heart-healthy, monounsaturated fat. Chocolate contains cocoa butter which is high in saturated fat. Take the notion that chocolate fat is good fat. The scientific evidence for the health benefits of the cocoa bean can be persuasive. Nowadays, of course, manufacturers big and small leap gleefully on the health bandwagon at any opportunity to claim miracle life-giving properties for this high fat, sugar rich snack. Once it got to Europe, it quickly found its way into the hands of the proto-medics: both Fry's of Bristol and Terry's of York were founded by apothecaries. The Aztec emperor Montezuma was partly to blame, since he was in the habit of downing several goblets of "chocolatl" before popping into his harem, triggering the myth that chocolate is an aphrodisiac. Ever since the Mayans, chocolate has been endowed with inflated powers.
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