WASHINGTON — Staring at that box of chocolates from your special someone? Go ahead and indulge, Lean Plate Club blogger Sally Squires says.
The love affair with chocolate goes way back — as far as the mid-1600s when it was considered a popular health drink in London. The Mayans and Aztecs also prized chocolate for their health and drank it in a concoction of cornmeal, vanilla, honey and chilies, Squires says.
One major health benefit from chocolate are flavonoids.
“You can find these in a lot of different foods but chocolate seems to have a really good concentration of them, particularly dark chocolate,” Squires says.
Squires says dark chocolate may have more health benefits than milk chocolate because it contains less sugar and improves satiety.
“We know that there are heart benefits from these flavonols. … We now know that there are probably also brain benefits, which is great for those of us who are getting a little bit older.”
But it’s not just beneficial for older adults. According to a recent study, flavonols produced less mental fatigue and enhanced mental performance in young adults.
Flavonols can improve blood pressure, lower LDL and increase HDL, improve inflammation, lower blood sugar and improve insulin resistance.
But doesn’t chocolate have a lot of fat and calories?
“It’s about 50 percent fat, but the good news is it’s healthy fat,” Squires says, adding that it’s similar to healthy fat found in olive oil and beef and does not raise blood cholesterol levels.
Some fun facts on the history of chocolate:
- In France, Louis IV drank chocolate daily because of the health benefits, including using it as an aphrodisiac.
- Marie Antoinette had her own chocolate maker at Versailles.
- In the early to mid-1800s, chocolate and Valentine’s Day became linked together when Richard Cadbury created chocolate that could be eaten rather than drunk and put them into heart shaped boxes with Cupids.
- 20th century: Hershey’s kisses got its name because of the smacking noise made when these tear-dropped chocolates were manufactured.
- The tree that provides chocolate was named the “tree of the food of the gods” by a Swedish scientist.
