Fond of chocolates?? hmmmmm Yummy!! But along with giving a watery mouth and taste, chocolates are considered healthy food items by scientists. Earlier chocolates are associated with some health myths. Most of the people think that eating chocolates give rise to health problems especially to tooth and skin. But most of them are wrong. While chocolate does contain sugar, the Eastman Dental Center found that chocolate contains certain phosphates and other minerals which minimize the effect of the sugar. Therefore chocolate is one of the least likely desserts to cause cavities. Also a research conducted at University of Pennsylvania and another at the US Naval Academy shown that eating chocolates have nothing to do with acnes.

Researches have concluded that chocolates give a positive effect on health instead of any negative impact. Chocolate contains flavonoids, powerful antioxidants, stearic acid, phenylethylamine, theobromine plus many essential minerals such as magnesium and iron.  These ingredients are responsible for positive effect of chocolates on body. Flavonoids fight against cancer and heart disease and it exist in a wide variety of foods and beverages also such as apples, peanuts, onions, cranberries, red wine, and tea.

Phenolic compounds gallic acid and the flavonoid epicatechine are present in chocolates. When compared to green tea and red wine, Chocolates had 611 mg of gallic acid (GAE) as compared to 340 in red wine and 165 in green tea. Also chocolate contained 564 mg of epicatechin (ECE) whereas red wine had 163 and green tea only 47. This is the result of a study conducted at Cornell University leaded by Dr. Chang Y Lee.

Antioxidants in chocolates destroy free radicals. Sufficient levels of antioxidants are needed in body to inhibit plaque formation on arterial walls and an increase in LDL cholesterol. Dark chocolate contains over 13000 ORAC units. ORAC measures the effectiveness of antioxidants.

Chocolates do contain fat but it is not unhealthy. The fat content of chocolate is one-third oleic acid, one-third stearic acid and one-third palmitic acid. Oleic acid is a mono-saturated fat like olive oil which is healthy. According to research studies, stearic acid has not effect on cholesterol.

Palmitic acid is the only saturated fat in chocolates which affect cholesterol levels. But some of the saturated fat is needed in body to provide protection against skin cancer which unsaturated fats cannot do. So you can neglect that part and can enjoy your chocolates with fun.

But make sure that the chocolate are of high quality to have high cacao content. It should not be combined with marshmallow, caramel, nougat and other unhealthy substances.

Dark chocolate is more beneficial than milk chocolate. And from now you can eat chocolates without any tension of tooth decay or acnes. But (a big but) that doesn’t mean that you keep on eating and eating. Restrict yourself to eating excess of chocolates. Excess of any food will lead to only lose of health. Moderation is the key. 3.5 ounces per day is the suggested amount you can take. Limit yourself and avoid excess of chocolates. Let it help your health not destroy.