When we talk about the benefits of chocolate, we, of course, do not mean milk, or even more so white. Too much sugar and fat, too little cocoa. Good for health is only dark bitter chocolate, it should contain at least 70% cocoa. And, preferably, not cheap - otherwise in a glossy tile of beautiful brown color instead of expensive cocoa butter will be trans fats, the most harmful and repulsive of fats. No, let's not save on health, as the Internet publication for girls and women from 14 to 35 years Pannochka. net Studies on the benefits or harm of chocolate appear regularly. A very controversial product - too tasty to be useful, but too loved to enroll in harmful. For example, fresh: literally in May in a collection of scientific articles Appetite appeared a study, the results of which suggest that the chocolate helps prevent age-related memory impairment and decreased intelligence. Sounds inspiring, does not it? And this is just one example: we counted 10 more facts about chocolate that can please the chocoholics.
Why is chocolate good? 1. For vessels Dark chocolate helps restore the elasticity of blood vessels and prevent the adhesion of white blood cells to their walls - it was found out by scientists from the Wageningen Institute in the Netherlands. This means that bitter chocolate reduces the risk of developing atherosclerosis.
For the heart Chocolate reduces the likelihood of a heart attack - this is claimed by specialists from the University of Aberdeen in the UK. For 12 years they studied food behavior of 21 thousand people and found out: 100 g of chocolate per day reduces the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by 25%.
For the balance of mineral substances Dark chocolate is a rich source of minerals needed by the body: it contains potassium, zinc, selenium. And most importantly - iron: in a 100-gram slice contains 67% of the daily norm of iron needed by the human body. Perhaps the famous English proverb will have to be rewritten: keeping the doctor away from the doors will help not an apple a day, but a 100-gram piece of chocolate.
To increase the level of good cholesterol High-density lipoprotein cholesterol is not something to be feared. It's really good: a high level of such cholesterol helps prevent a heart attack. Employees of the University of Kuopio in Finland found that the polyphenols contained in cocoa beans help to raise the level of good cholesterol in the blood - another great news for the heart and blood vessels.
To protect the skin from the sun Researchers from London found that flavonols, contained in chocolate, help the skin withstand the harmful effects of ultraviolet rays. For 12 weeks, British scientists put a cruel experiment on people: while one half of the participants were forced to eat chocolate with a high content of flavonols (that is, bitter), the second had to choke milk with a low content of these antioxidants. The results of the study showed that the skin of those who ate milk chocolate, according to the analysis, was not protected from the sun, but those who ate bitter were protected from sunburn. Does this mean that you can neglect sunscreen on the beach? No! But eat bitter chocolate, do not be shy.
Do not believe - check: neuroscientist Will Clover argues that if you put a small piece of good chocolate on your tongue 20 minutes before a meal and give it a complete melt, a signal will come to your brain that you are already full, and as a result, at dinner or you will eat less than you could eat. After a meal, too, it is worth putting a slice of chocolate on the tongue - then after a while you will not want to look again in the refrigerator.
For the health of babies To feed newborns with chocolate is, of course, not worth it. He will be useful to them only if the mother ate chocolate while waiting for the baby to come into the world. This was found out by specialists from Helsinki University in Finland. They tied the amount of chocolate that women ate during pregnancy, with the behavior of newborns. It turned out that babies born by lovers of this product behave more actively and often show positive reactions than children of ascetic mothers who were not noticed in the love of cocoa beans. Scientists are not yet ready to say why chocolate leads babies to a calm state of mind, but they assumed that it was a matter of pleasure that moms experienced - and that was passed on to the baby in the womb.
To prevent diabetes This, of course, is a surprise, but we will trust scientists from the University of Warwick, UK. They found that daily consumption of 100 g of bitter chocolate increases the sensitivity of cells to insulin and has a positive effect on liver enzymes - this was shown by an experiment in which 1153 people aged 18 to 69 years. Most likely, this means that soon drugs will appear on the basis of cocoa beans, but for now let the therapeutic effect be rendered with bitter chocolate.
For the brain, Neurobiologist Diane Roberts Stoler, who has devoted more than 20 years of life to working with patients suffering from brain damage, from concussion to Parkinson's disease, says: thanks to the high content of antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties, chocolate has a beneficial effect on such people.
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For the good spirits Probably everyone has heard that chocolate causes the release of endorphins - neurotransmitters, which favorably affect the emotional state of a person. But not everyone knows why. The fact is that chocolate contains phenylethylamine - this substance provokes the release of endorphins. By the way, endorphins can also reduce pain, so, perhaps, with headache, it also makes sense to use grams of 100 or 150 grams. Suddenly the mood will improve?.
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