The Benefit of Regular Consume Chocolate for Health and Happiness

What do you know about chocolate? Chocolate is one type of vegetables that comes from the cacao tree. The seeds of the cacao fruit itself are further processed into a variety of foods. Most of those products are favored by almost the majority of people in the world. Chocolate in the form of a bar was first produced in England [1]. For more information about how cacao process to be chocolate, you can see in this video ^{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGaLWuLzHBU}

In spite of its delicious taste, chocolate is also said to increase the positive mood or a sense of happiness in a person. A meta-analysis among 6 studies found that 5 studies have successfully shown the effectiveness of consumption cacao flavanols-containing products to decrease negative mood and improve positive mood. On the other hand, one study failed to show the effects[3].

Besides it’s beneficial to improve mental health, in this case, improves the positive mood or feeling of happiness, chocolate was also said having an effect on health. A study conducted by Allen and colleagues in 2008 found that consumption of products containing cacao flavanols on a regular basis could be lowering LDL or bad cholesterol. In addition, the consumption of these products every day could also be decreasing systolic blood pressure. Thus, the consumption of chocolate on a regular basis as part of a low-fat-diet improved cardiovascular health through decreases in cholesterol, and blood pressure [2].

Well, in turns, besides its tasty, chocolate also has many benefits. Usually to maintain health needs an effort that can be said painful or less fun. However, it is different if we use this one effort. A routine consumption cacao products both spoil our tongue and also very useful for maintaining physical and mental health. Indirectly, it will also affect our economic condition by reducing the amount of expenditure for health budget.

Finally, don’t forget to make sure a wise path in choosing foods containing cacao flavanols products, a product with less sugar and other additives. So, let’s indulge our tongue, chocolate lovers!!

Resources

http://mentalfloss.com/article/57507/20-things-you-never-knew-about-chocolate).
Robin R. Allen, LeaAnn Carson, Catherine Kwik-Uribe, Ellen M. Evans, John W. Erdman; Daily Consumption of a Dark Chocolate Containing Flavanols and Added Sterol Esters Affects Cardiovascular Risk Factors in a Normotensive Population with Elevated Cholesterol, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 138, Issue 4, 1 April 2008, Pages 725–731, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/138.4.725
Scholey, A., & Owen, L. (2013). Effects of chocolate on cognitive function and mood: a systematic review. Nutrition reviews, 71(10), 665-681.

1. http://mentalfloss.com/article/57507/20-things-you-never-knew-about-chocolate)
2. https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/138/4/725/4665024
3. http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/files_mf/1388091372Scholey2013HumanNutritionCognitiveFunction.pdf
4. http://www.tomthumb.org/324/the-king-of-chocolate/