Benefits Of Chocolate To Keep Your Heart Healthy

Your heart and it is well-being are quite an important part of your overall physiological health. In fact, in the present day more people, mostly aged individuals are found to be affected by several types of heart issues because of cardiac damage and cardiac health deterioration. There might be several types of reasons why a person can develop risks of cardiac health issues, but they mostly occur due to a lack of enough health-beneficial nutrients in the body. Before going for medications and using clinical drugs, one should opt for using natural techniques and intaking healthy food substances in their daily diet to stay away from cardiac diseases and other health problems that result from heart issues. There can be different types of cardiac health problems that one can face if there is an issue in the overall functioning of the heart and the circulatory system of the body. As a result of such conditions, the entire physiological functioning of the body can also get disrupted, leading to severe health problems, and can even cause untimely or premature death. For this reason, it is very important to know which thing you should include in your diet to keep your heart healthy and what you must do to take good care of your heart and can avoid developing the risks of getting any cardiac diseases.

The most commonly- occurred cardiovascular diseases may be listed here as follows:

• Increase in your blood pressure levels
• Increase in the levels of cholesterol
• Cardiac arrest
• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Heart stroke

One food component that can truly help to maintain the healthy functioning of the heart and can help you to lower the risk of occurrences of cardiac diseases is chocolate. Chocolate is such a food component that is not only delicious but it is also filled with high quantities of nutrients that are extremely rich for your overall health. Though there are several variations of chocolate based on their places of origin, there are two broad forms of chocolate- light, and dark. Light chocolate is more flavored and consists of added sugars and sweeteners and milk solids that make it tasty, and it is often liked by children for its beautiful taste and delicious texture. Dark chocolate on the other hand is a bit bitter in taste as it consists of raw chocolate.

Here Is All That You Need To About Chocolate:

Chocolate is a food component that is derived from the fruits of a tree, usually known as the cacao tree, that is found mostly in the tropical areas of the Mediterranean. Today, chocolate is a common food substance that is produced in some of the major parts of the world, including that of the UK and America. Of the various types of chocolates, dark chocolate is the most nutritious. It is filled with immense amounts of vitamins, minerals, essential antioxidants, and so on. Apart from that, it is also rich in enough quantities of soluble fiber and other nutrients.

According to current studies and sources, a bar of dark chocolate that measures around 100 grams consists of at least 70 to 85% of cocoa is filled with the following nutritional elements in the given quantities:

• 11 grams of fiber
• 196% of the DV (Daily Value) for copper
• 85% of the DV for manganese
• 66% of the DV for iron
• 57% of the DV for magnesium

Apart from the above-mentioned nutrients, there are also some other minerals that are present in chocolates, such as follows: phosphorus, zinc, potassium, and selenium. It has also often been said that one should consume around 100 grams or 3.5 ounces of chocolate, though not daily, to keep your heart healthy. Try to avoid consuming those chocolates that consist of higher amounts of sugar because if there are sweetening agents in the chocolate you are consuming, then you are most likely to add 600 or more calories to your body which might cause a calorie surplus in the body, and an unnecessary increase in your overall body weight.

This is one of the most important reasons why physicians, dieticians, and health care experts always advise you to prefer dark chocolate to light chocolate to maintain a healthy functioning of the heart and to keep your heart in a good condition, free from the risk of any sort of damage.

Nutrient Profile Of Healthy Chocolate:

When it comes to the matter of protecting your heart health, dark chocolate is the healthiest of all. Since this type of chocolate is derived from plant parts, dark chocolate consists of all the goodness and the health-beneficial nutrients from the plant parts, thus it is rich in plant-based nutrients. Besides, dark chocolate is often considered as a powerhouse of high levels of powerful antioxidants and an immense amount of minerals. The nutritional profile of this type of chocolate can be studied as follows:

• 12.02 milligrams (mg) of iron
• 230.00 mg of magnesium
• 3.34 mg of zinc
• 46.36 g of carbohydrates
• 11.00 g of dietary fiber
• 7.87 g of protein
• 43.06 g of fat

Apart from all these nutrients, chocolates also consist of essential fatty acids that are beneficial for the body. The fatty acids that are present in cocoa chocolates are particularly good for your heart because these are filled with healthy chemical components known as oleic acid which is known to keep your heart healthy and in good condition. Besides, there are other healthy substances too that are present in cocoa, such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, and so on. All these chemical components are important to keep your heart healthy- stearic acid, for instance, helps to lower the levels of cholesterol. Moreover, chocolate is also rich in the content of stimulants, which are chemical substances, such as caffeine and theobromine, but they are not responsible for keeping you awake late at night or exciting your nerves.

Benefits Of Chocolates To Keep Your Heart Healthy:

There are a good number of benefits for your heart health that can result from the consumption of the right amount of chocolate. Some such benefits can be listed here as follows:

1. Control Your Blood Pressure Levels And Circulatory System:

The heart is related to the circulatory system of the human body. So, it is very important to keep the blood circulation system in a better functioning condition, so that you do not have to face health difficulties related to high levels of blood pressure. In fact, high blood pressure can lead to other major health issues, such as heart attack, heart stroke, cardiac arrest, and various other cardiovascular diseases. It has been found in several types of studies and research experiments that the immense amounts of antioxidants, mostly flavonoids that are present in chocolates help to lower high blood pressure and thus help to keep your heart healthy.

2. Helps To Maintain Your Level Of Cholesterol:

There are many people who suffer from several types of cardiac ailments that occur mostly because of increased levels of cholesterol in the heart. There are two types of cholesterol-

• LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol.
• HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol, also known as good cholesterol.

It has been found in recent studies and experimental research works that chocolate, mostly dark chocolate consists of essential health extracts and goodness of plant essence, such as flavanol, that helps to lower the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol effectively and keep the levels of HDL or good cholesterol at an optimum level. So, it is highly recommended by several cardiac experts, dieticians, and acclaimed healthcare professionals to consume chocolate in optimum amounts to keep your cholesterol levels within control and to keep your heart free from any type of damage that might result from the deposition of triglycerides on the valves and in the other areas of the heart.

3. Lower Down The Chances Of Cardiac Diseases:

Cardiac diseases are one of the most commonly- occurring diseases among people, especially among old people. So, it is very important to take precautions to avoid the risk of occurrences of cardiac diseases. As it has already been mentioned before, chocolates consist of many health-beneficial vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are known to lower the risk of occurrences of heart disease at a significant rate. In fact, it has been found in recent studies and experiments that those who consumed chocolate, mostly dark chocolate could significantly decrease their risks of getting cardiac diseases by around 9%.