Speaking of the relationship between chocolate and the holiday, you may think of Valentine’s Day as the first time. For lovers in love, sweet chocolate is the perfect choice to convey love. However, in addition to this, it is also a good food for the New Year. Experts say that during the Chinese New Year, eating a little bit of dark chocolate every day can help the health.
This sounds a bit unbelievable. Because people usually equate high-calorie, sugar-rich chocolates with junk foods and identify them as one of the leading causes of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, etc., even if they are obsessed with it, they will try to restrain it. Its love. During the Chinese New Year, people eat more high-fat and high-calorie foods than usual. It is reasonable to limit the intake of chocolate. How can eating dark chocolate help health? Let us uncover the answer together.
Polyphenols and flavanols protect the cardiovascular
During the Chinese New Year, people’s lifestyle and eating patterns are disrupted, so it is a high incidence of cardiovascular disease. If you take in the right amount of dark chocolate, it will help maintain cardiovascular health. According to nutrition experts from Health 863 Network, chocolate, especially dark chocolate, has a high content of natural antioxidants, polyphenols, which have similar anti-inflammatory effects as aspirin, and can reduce platelet activation at a certain concentration. The deposition of free radicals on the blood vessel wall protects the cardiovascular system and reduces the incidence of cardiovascular disease to a certain extent.
At the same time, dark chocolate contains flavonoids "flavanol" This substance prevents cholesterol from accumulating in blood vessels, prevents platelet clots, facilitates blood vessel circulation, maintains blood vessel elasticity, prevents blood vessels from hardening, and lowers blood pressure and reduces the formation of potentially damaging thrombus. The effect is even better than wine, tea and berry fruits.
Caffeine helps control appetite
The festive atmosphere of the New Year is easy to make people appetite, and a large intake of high-fat, high-calorie foods, which can easily lead to obesity and easy to induce heart Diseases such as blood vessels. Experts say that the caffeine contained in chocolate has an appetite-suppressing effect and promotes the body’s metabolism. Appropriate intake of chocolate not only creates a sense of fullness, but also effectively controls appetite.
Among all chocolates, dark chocolate has the lowest sugar content and fat, but it contains more caffeine than milk chocolate. A new study from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark confirms that dark chocolate is more effective in helping people avoid high-calorie festive foods than milk chocolate, reducing people’s desire for sweet, salty and fatty foods.
Cellulose and Isoflavones Regulate Digestive System
Overeating during the Chinese New Year can easily cause diseases in the human digestive system. Dark chocolate is not only an easy-to-digest food, but also contains cellulose and isoflavones that regulate the digestive system.
Experts pointed out that cellulose in dark chocolate has the function of promoting intestinal peristalsis and helping digestion of the gastrointestinal tract. Isoflavones have the function of inhibiting the secretion of chloride ions in the intestinal tract and can alleviate the symptoms of diarrhea. At the same time, the polyphenols in dark chocolate can also inhibit the secretion and absorption of protein, chloride and water in the intestinal tract of the small intestine, slow down the loss of water and prevent dehydration due to diarrhea.
Multiple nutrients improve immunity
During the Chinese New Year, people’s biological clocks are disrupted, and human immunity is reduced, making it easy for diseases to break into. The various nutrients contained in dark chocolate can help improve human immunity.
Experts say that in addition to carbohydrates, protein and fat, dark chocolate also contains calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, potassium, sodium, copper, phosphorus and other minerals and folic acid, cellulose and vitamins. A, B, C, E, etc., can meet the body’s demand for multiple nutrients. At the same time, the flavonoids in dark chocolate also have the function of regulating immunity, which can protect the immune system from free radical damage. Polyphenols also have the function of regulating a variety of human immune cells.
Scientific food varies from person to person
Although dark chocolate has all of the above benefits, chocolate is a special high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar sugar product, and contains caffeine. Eating is not good for human health and is addictive. Experts remind individuals that they should be scientifically and reasonably ingested, and some special populations are not suitable for consumption.
Experts stress that it is not advisable for adults, children and adolescents to regard dark chocolate as a snack, but to treat it as a beneficial supplement to dietary nutrition and to strictly control intake in order to have a positive effect on health. Experts recommend that adults consume no more than 100 grams a day. Children and adolescents can eat dark chocolate 5-25 grams each time between meals or after a large amount of exercise.
And some special people who are not suitable for eating chocolate should improve their self-control ability. Children under the age of 8 years, people who are prone to heartburn, people who are prone to headaches, people with constipation and diabetes, patients with gallstones, and people with severe cardiovascular disease should not eat or eat less chocolate.