Ever since Camille posted last week about the potential mood benefits of chocolate, the stuff has has been on my mind. Yesterday morning, for example, I managed to work an experience I had at the New York Chocolate Show into a magazine article about willpower (I later rewarded my efforts with Junior Mints). Later in the day, I found myself salivating over this chocolate lava cake recipe. And that night, I couldn’t get enough of a dessert I discovered at Tangled Vine–slices of french bread generously spread with melted chocolate, drizzled with Spanish olive oil, and sprinkled with a little sea salt. Oh my.
When I was researching the antioxidant benefits of dark fruit, I kept coming across studies on cocoa, the component of chocolate that itself is rich in flavonols, a potent type of polyphenol antioxidant (one of the reason’s there’s such a premium on dark chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa). While it’s important to know that most commercial dark chocolate only retains about a quarter of cocoa’s original benefits–and it isn’t low in fat or sugar, either–my feeling is if you’re going to choose a dessert, chocolate might nevertheless be a good one to run with. Here’s why.
1. Cocoa is good for your heart: Among the over 30 studies done on chocolate’s heart benefits over the past decade was this one from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): Researchers found that not only did eating 30 calories’ worth of dark chocolate containing 30 mg of polyphenol antioxidants (most commercial brands have several hundred mg) each day have significant positive effects on blood pressure, but (crazily–I’d want to look into this more) those improvements were comparable to what some patients saw on beta blockers.
2. It can help combat UV damage and skin redness: A late 2009 study in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology found that eating chocolate with a high percentage of cocoa could help protect skin from UV damage. An earlier experiment in the Journal of Nutrition found that subjects who drank a cocoa-rich beverage experienced improved skin hydration and a 25 percent reduction in skin redness. (As somebody who tends to blush and get ruddy when it’s cold and dry outsite, this was fun to read, especially since the amount wasn’t unthinkably high: Subjects were getting about 326 mg of polyphenol antioxidants; you could get this from store-bought bar.)
3. Research is connecting it to brain health: A series of studies presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences showed that participants who drank a cocoa-rich beverage experienced strong improvements in blood flow to the brain, leading to a reduced risk of dementia and stroke.
**To wrap this all up with something extra-delicious, Tangled Vine chef David Seigal has promised to share some ratio specifics on the dessert I described. And in the interim, I’m passing along my all-time favorite hot cocoa recipe. (I know, I link to it constantly–but it’s *that good*!) More soon…
Facebook
Camille