Here's to Your Health - Have Some Chocolate!

By Carol Johnson

Remember those late Halloween nights plowing through your trick-or-treat booty, when you were allowed just one tiny piece because your mother said chocolate wasn't good for you? Well, in recent years scientists and researchers have gone to a lot of trouble to prove your mother wrong.

Just when it seemed like you'd have to stick to a diet of raw vegetables and rice and give up everything remotely tasty in order to stay healthy, along comes the news that chocolate-especially dark chocolate-not only isn't bad for you, it might actually be good for you, in moderation.

High quality chocolate is now known to have significant positive health benefits. Eating at least 2 oz. a day of plain dark chocolate can be beneficial to your health. Researchers have determined that dark chocolate is the best, with a minimum content of 70% chocolate solids. Dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants, which gobble up free radicals, destructive molecules that are implicated in heart disease and other ailments. Dark chocolate also lowers high blood pressure, say Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Cologne, Germany. White chocolate and milk chocolate don't have the same effect.

Dark chocolate protects against many other health hazards, because it contains several essential trace elements such as iron, calcium, potassium, and vitamins A, B1, C, D, and E. Cocoa, from which chocolate is made, is the most potent natural source for magnesium, a mineral that is beneficial for the cardiovascular system. Magnesium deficiency has been linked with hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, joint problems, and PMS.

The healthiest way to satisfy a craving for chocolate is to consume plain dark chocolate with a minimum of 70% or more cocoa solids. Dark chocolate satisfies a chocolate urge with less sugar and saturated fat than other types of chocolate. If you just can't stomach dark chocolate, though, milk chocolate or white chocolate is better than none, as long as the chocolate has a minimum of 30% chocolate solids or chocolate butter.

Chocolate is not only healthy in moderation, it is a lot more enjoyable than downing a handful of vitamin pills. Granted, it contains more calories than vitamins, but as long as you balance your diet to accommodate the calories, eating chocolate every day can provide an emotional boost as well as a physical one simply because of the enjoyment. The violent mood swings familiar to women who suffer from PMS are attributable to a pre-menstrual drop in progesterone levels. Adding magnesium to the diet-such as the magnesium provided by dark chocolate-has been proven to increase pre-menstrual progesterone levels, thus alleviating the problem of PMS.

Chocolate lovers who know the health benefits of consuming chocolate may think that it's okay to choose cheap "brand name" chocolate, such as the coatings used for candy bars. But such types of chocolates are usually very low in chocolate solids (some less than 7%), and they are all high in sugar content and saturated fats, both of which can quickly ruin your teeth as well as your figure. The fat in high quality plain chocolate, however, can be considered cholesterol-free because it does not clog arteries or contribute to high cholesterol levels.

One hint to keep in mind, though: just because chocolate is good for you doesn't mean you should ADD it to your diet. Instead, you should REPLACE other sweets in your diet with a little bit of chocolate every day. So forgo three donuts for breakfast in favor of one, have an ice cream cone instead of a three-scoop bowl, and have a little piece of chocolate for dessert after dinner. Your heart and the rest of your body will thank you!