Article Most Wanted: hearth

Chocolate For Your Heart Health and Antioxidant

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<span class="dropcaps">Want to improve your <a href="http://www.articlemostwanted.com/2013/06/chocolate-for-your-heart-health-and.html">Hearth Health</a> with tasty treat? </span><br />
<span class="dropcaps">F</span>or many people around the world, life 
without chocolate would be dismal. Satiny dark or creamy, chocolate is a
 beloved food intimately linked with celebrations, comfort, indulgence, 
and extravagance. Its source is cacao, a small tree native to Central 
and South American forests that produces large pods packed with dark 
brown seeds. From the seeds come fragrant cocoa, luscious chocolate, and
 creamy cocoa butter. The cultivation of cacao may have originated with 
the Olmec culture of eastern Mexico more than 3,000 years ago. The 
Olmec, and later the Maya and Aztec, fermented, roasted, and then ground
 cacao seeds into a paste. Mixed with water, chili peppers, cornmeal, 
and other ingredients, it was whipped into a frothy, spicy chocolate 
drink. Both the drink and the seeds from which it was made were 
considered sacred. In ancient Mesoamerica, chocolate truly was “the food
 of the gods,” which is what <i>Theobroma</i> means.<br />
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<b>Therapeutic Uses</b></h2>
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<i>Antioxidant</i></div>
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<i>Heart health (including blood pressure and cholesterol levels)</i></div>
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<i>Anti-inflammatory</i></div>
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As more studies emerge linking chocolate consumption 
to improved cardiovascular health, it is clear that chocolate is both a 
food and a medicine—not only good but also good for you. Chocolate’s 
main medicinal effects come from a group of compounds called polyphenols
 that are strongly antioxidant and anti-inflammatory; they also impart 
to chocolate its dark brown color. Similar compounds are
 found in green tea, red wine, and many fruits and vegetables. 
Interestingly, the polyphenols in chocolate seem to act as antioxidants 
that are stronger than antioxidants in other foods. In humans, these 
polyphenols are thought to act in several ways. They may stop one of the
 steps in the development of plaques in coronary arteries by decreasing 
the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or bad, cholesterol 
deposited there; hence, LDL plaque does not become as firmly established
 and is less likely to then rupture and clot, causing a heart attack. 
These polyphenols also increase the levels of high-density lipoprotein 
(HDL), or good, cholesterol protection against cardiovascular disease. These compounds also 
are mild inhibitors of platelet activity, thinning blood in an action 
similar to that of aspirin.<br />
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Another interesting component of chocolate is cocoa 
butter. By weight, much of chocolate is cocoa butter. Considered a 
“good” fat, cocoa butter contains oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat also
 found in olive oil; cocoa butter also contains stearic and palmitic 
acids, two saturated fats. In combination these fats seem to balance the
 benefit to the heart and cholesterol levels.</div>
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<b>How to Use</b></h2>
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Choose a dark chocolate of at least 70 percent 
cacao to maximize the polyphenol content—and the medicinal benefits—of 
this tasty treat.</div>
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<b>Precautions</b></h2>
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Due to the small amount of caffeine it contains, 
along with a related compound, theobromine, chocolate can be 
stimulating, making it hard to fall asleep after a late-night snack. The
 fat content of chocolate carries a calorie-heavy punch, so eating too 
much chocolate can add up. Also, as the percentage of cacao in chocolate
 drops, it is replaced with milk fats that diminish the benefits of 
cacao butter and bind healthy polyphenols, making them less absorbable.<br />
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Hope chocolate can give you a way to improve your <a href="http://www.articlemostwanted.com/2013/06/chocolate-for-your-heart-health-and.html">heart health</a> with joy! </div>