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Benefit Of Chocolate Essay

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The Health Benefits of Chocolate Everyone seems to love chocolate, and it is one of the most purchased treats on Valentine’s Day for friends, family, husbands and wives. When people are stressed, or feel like they need a comfort food, chocolate is one of the first things that comes to mind, and is reached to soothe a troubled emotional heart. In the past, chocolate has been considered to be a ‘sweet junk food’ that is high in sugar and calories with no nutritional value. But due to recent nutritional and scientific research people should be eating a bit of dark chocolate for the antioxidants and heart healthy benefits. Chocolate has recently been researched in the science world for its high levels of antioxidants, …show more content…

Chocolate has two groups of antioxidants called flavonoids and polyphenols. Antioxidants fight against free radicals in the body. Free radicals are unbalanced compounds created by the natural cellular processes in the body and from environmental toxins. Antioxidants are compounds including vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that neutralize free radicals and protect the body from their damage. The substances in antioxidants counteract with the damaging normal effects of the body’s process of oxidization. Research shows that antioxidants help in preventing the development of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimer’s, rheumatoid arthritis, and cataracts. In a 2000 edition of Science News Journal, Janet Raloff supports the benefits of chocolate with the findings of antioxidants within chocolate, “Chocolate and cocoa powders are derived from beans that contain healthy quantities of antioxidants called flavonoids which have cardiovascular benefits” (188). She continued to state that these flavonoids are more powerful in chocolate than in vitamins, some teas, or wines. Dark chocolate can also help decrease the amount of blood clots in the heart due to the amount of antioxidants, which delay or prevent cell damage. In the December 1999 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Vinson supported this in an earlier research supporting that “The

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