Chocolate and its Magical Power
- Chocolate
- can be good
- for your health.
- Studies
- show
- eating chocolate,
- primarily dark chocolate,
- may contribute
- to improving your health,
- especially cardiovascular health.
- Packed with natural antioxidants
- included in cocoa beans,
- dark chocolate
- has positive effects
- on our body.
- Dark chocolate and cocoa
- are rich
- in cell-protecting antioxidants,
- and a diet
- high in flavonoid-rich cocoa powder
- and
- dark chocolate
- had favorable effects
- on LDL
- (low density lipoprotein),
- which is so called
- "bad" cholesterol,
- according to a study
- led
- by Pennsylvania State University.
- Flavonoids,
- which are present
- in a wide variety of plants,
- have long been known
- to inhibit LDL oxidation.
- Oxidation of LDLs
- is thought
- to play an important role
- in the process
- of hardening arteries.
- Increasing LDL's resistance
- to oxidation
- is thought
- to be key
- to delaying the progression
- of artery diseases.
- Eating dark chocolate
- also
- sharpens up your mind.
- A professor
- at the University
- of Nottingham
- in UK
- examined brain function
- by using MRI
- (magnetic resonance imaging)
- to detect increased activity
- in specific areas
- of the brain
- in individuals
- who had had
- a single drink
- of flavonoid-rich cocoa.
- It
- turns out
- the single drink of cocoa
- allows more blood,
- and
- consequently
- more oxygen
- to reach key areas
- of the brain.
- The cocoa flavonoids
- found in chocolate
- boost blood flow,
- and
- therefore
- enhance brain function.
- Remember,
- however,
- too much chocolate
- is
- bad for your health.