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Can dark chocolate lower down your blood pressure?
Suffering from high blood pressure? Take a bite of dark chocolate every day and see the difference.
Do you have a sweet tooth and can’t control your chocolate cravings? Well, here’s some good news for you. With all the goodness of dark chocolate, it has also been found out that it can help lower blood pressure, especially for people with hypertension.
Recently, a Harvard study analysed 24 chocolate studies involving 1,106 people. It found that “dark chocolate, the kind that contains at least 50 to 70 per cent cocoa, lowered blood pressure in all participants, but most notably in those with hypertension”.
Manjari Chandra, Consultant – Nutrition at Max Multi Speciality Centre says, “Dark chocolate as compared to other forms of chocolate contains high amounts of cocoa. Cocoa is very rich in flavonoids that are known to reduce blood pressure and make your heart healthy. Flavonoids also help manage blood sugar better and are diabetic friendly.”
Chandra adds, “Flavonoids also trigger the expression of skinny genes and as a result, people can also lose weight with the consumption of dark chocolate.”
Dark chocolate also appears to affect cholesterol. Recent research has found out there is a decrease in bad cholesterol and a slight increase in good cholesterol. What’s more, cocoa consumption also reduces the risk of many cardiovascular diseases.
Are you worried you may gain too many calories? Here’s the amount that is right for you.
Most nutritionists recommend not more than one or two ounces (30g to 60g) of dark chocolate is healthy. Only if you’re eating more than that, it would interfere with your diet chart and calorie intake.
While eating a chunk of chocolate bar can be good for you, it is yet to be found out whether dark chocolate is really beneficial for long-term effects.
