The mood-improving benefits of chocolate antioxidants have long been known, but now this treat has revealed another healthy secret--it can also help prevent cancer and heart disease. Dark chocolate, eaten without milk, has been shown to contain more antioxidants than either red wine or green tea. To understand the importance of this discovery, one should understand why antioxidants are of such importance to the human system.
As the human body uses oxygen, highly reactive byproducts, known as free radicals, are formed. Chocolate antioxidants can aid in fighting these. In essence, a free radical is an atom or molecule that, during the chemical processes a body uses to function, loses an electron. The manner in which these rogue agents operate is, on the surface, simple: an atom missing an electron is unstable and will attempt to regain stability by either shedding or gaining an electron. When the free radical successfully steals or gives an electron to another molecule, it becomes stable once again. The molecule that donated or received the electron, however, is now unstable, and becomes a free radical itself. This creates a chain reaction that, left unchecked, can eventually upset the balance of whole cells, leading to severe disruption in the affected system and manifesting as any number of diseases and cancers.
While free radicals do present a clear problem to the human system, the body can use chocolate antioxidants to defend itself from the damage they cause. Found in food products and used by the body to arrest the damage caused by free radicals, antioxidants are molecules that seek out and stabilize free radicals by donating electrons to unstable molecules, ending the destructive chain reactions. Once an antioxidant has ended a reaction, though, it becomes unstable and begins to hunt stable molecules itself. Because of this continual process, it is important that the body maintain the balance of oxidants and antioxidants by continually replenishing its supply of the latter to prevent the cellular and systemic damage these reactions cause.
The antioxidants that cocoa products contain, polyphenols and flavonoids, protect the heart and cardiovascular system from damage in much the same way an aspirin regimen does; it prevents blood platelets from clotting, thereby reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke significantly. Chocolate antioxidants, though, has two significant health benefit that aspirin does not--it improves arterial health and lowers blood pressure.
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is a serious health concern; it has been directly linked to such problems as congestive heart failure, kidney failure, and cerebral damage as well as heart attack and stroke. By stimulating nitric oxide production in the vascular system, the flavonoids in chocolate cause the body to trigger a reaction that both dilates and relaxes blood vessels, increasing blood flow. This causes a drop in blood pressure, reducing the risk for cardiovascular distress.
Milk, though, causes chocolate antioxidants lose nearly all of its antioxidant benefits; the polyphenols in the chocolate bond to protein in the milk, effectively neutralizing the antioxidant boost gained by having a cocoa based snack. This applies both to milk chocolate and drinking milk with dark chocolate. For a body to completely process the antioxidants in chocolate, milk cannot be present during the digestive process; a person eating coco for its health benefits should avoid both milk and milk coco for at least an hour before and after ingesting the cocoa to maximize its effects.
While chocolate can be used as a healthy diet supplement, moderation is key. Coco has a high calorie content, which can lead to weight gain if the body does not burn extra energy to maintain its caloric balance. Given that antioxidant rich chocolate can aid the body in ridding itself of free radicals, reducing blood pressure, maintaining cardiovascular health, and reducing the risks for heart disease and cancers, a small portion every day to replenish the body's antioxidant stores is a simple but powerful way of providing the body with the tools it needs to protect itself from the damage free radicals cause.
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