Good news for chocolate lovers (i.e. me)! We’ve known cacao has health benefits for a long time, but those studies are mostly from animals eating straight, bitter, cacao in amounts most people wouldn’t be excited about.
This new study looked at actual humans eating normal amounts of actual dark chocolate. It found that dark chocolate has positive effects on the brain and the immune system. In particular, the researchers found cell-level effects impacting mood, memory, stress, and general brain function, as well as effects on immune cells that should improve immunity.
And the darker the chocolate, the more effects they noticed. They (and I) advise at least 70% dark chocolate, but it does seem that more is better here.
Excuse me while I add some 85% dark chocolate to my grocery list…
Praise cacao!
I love that there are more and more companies making chocolate bars with alternative sweeteners to sugar like dates and maple syrup. That’s the only part of chocolate that I try to avoid is the sugar.