Chocolate not only tastes good, it offers numerous health benefits. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study in 2012 stating that people who consumed chocolate regularly, were more likely to have enhanced cognition. That means they remembered things better.
Other studies suggest that chocolate makes you produce feelings of love and affection. This is perhaps why chocolate is so popular at Valentine’s Day and other sentimental days. But chocolate has real health benefits. These include boosting your heart health by lowering your blood pressure and the amount of bad cholesterol in the body. That means your overall risk of heart disease may be lowered by consuming chocolate.
Chocolate may also help keep you feeling full longer, perhaps because chocolate is rich in fiber, something not everyone knew. That’s not bad for a luxurious treat. This suggests that chocolate is a much better snack than many other sweets. Yale University Prevention Research Center recently revealed that many sweet lovers may do better by snacking on chocolate than other types of sweets. Chocolate may even help reduce cravings for other sweets.
Still other studies suggest that chocolate may increase sensitivity to insulin, which can help reduce the risk for certain types of diabetes. What else can chocolate do for you? Dark chocolate produces a wealth of antioxidants which are good for the skin. The antioxidants in chocolate have been shown to offer some protection from UV damage inflicted from the sun. That means chocolate is a good fighter of free radicals which produce damage, causing premature aging.
Chocolate also contains a substance that can quiet the vagus nerve, which sometimes acts up and causes excessive coughing. A study by the BBC reported that chocolate contains a chemical called thebromine, which helps to quiet coughing. So the next time you plan to reach for a cough drop, reach for chocolate instead.
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