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SUPER
CHOCOLATE - Nutrition focus (an Easter special article) Chocolate
doesn’t have to be a guilty pleasure.
Here’s how to make your Easter indulgence positively good for
you. More
and more evidence of chocolate’s health benefits is emerging.
Some chocolates are better than others but do your homework to
find out the important facts. It’s
the cocoa bean that provides most of chocolate’s benefits – the
darker (more cocoa-rich) the chocolate, the higher the content of
antioxidant flavonols, linked with lower risk of heart disease and
cancer. A key group of cocoa
and wine based flavonols help relax and widen blood vessels.
Darker chocolate is a good source of magnesium important for
nerve and muscle function. Magnesium
may also help fight premenstrual symptoms.
High cocoa chocolate will also increase your intake of anaemia
protecting iron. Research
suggests that eating 45g daily of 85% cocoa chocolate is associated with
less fatigue in people with ME. Darker
chocolate contains more antioxidants and minerals so look for bars with
more than 60% cocoa. But
milk chocolate isn’t a no-go – it has fewer antioxidants and is more
sugary but is actually lower in calories and fat per square than dark
chocolate. White chocolate
has 10% of the RDA of calcium in a 30g serving so it too has it’s
merits. Surprisingly,
the saturated fat in good quality chocolate (where all the fat comes
from cocoa butter) isn’t that bad for you as it’s mainly made up of
the fatty acid stearic acid which doesn’t raise cholesterol as much as
other types of fatty acid. But
in cheaper milk and white chocolate, the addition of vegetable fat such
as palm oil can increase it’s cholesterol raising potential. It’s
best to avoid chocolates with fillings and stick to the plain stuff.
Fudge and caramel centres can contain particularly unhealthy
trans fats. Healthier
chocolate websites – www.therawchocolatecompany.com Happy
Easter. This edited article was written by Health & Fitness magazine
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