If you want a Health Benefit from something sweet, You could try Chocolate.

How can a sweet piece of chocolate benefit your health? It can with the flavonoids that are contained as a nutrient in the cocoa bean itself. The cocoa bean is just bursting with a decent amount of flavanol antioxidant power.

Not all cocoa beans will provide enough flavonoids
Why? Cocoa beans are roasted just as coffee is and the heat will deplete the quality and strength of the beans antioxidant power. So, the longer they are roasted and fermented the fewer flavonoids will live through the process.

Is there a better form of chocolate to eat for the antioxidant power?

Well, if you go for the white chocolate which I tend to favor, you get Zero healthy flavonoids to benefit you.
So, go for Dark Chocolate which you can find listed on the ingredients as:

• Dark Chocolate ingredients to seek
• Cocao Beans
• Cocao Mass
• Cocao
• Chocolate liquor

If you are a Milk Chocolate fan and love that creamy taste then you could have a few flavonoids enter your mouth, but just a few.

How much cocoa needs to be in each piece of chocolate candy to make it potentially healthy?

That is going to vary because again quality of the bean after roasting and fermenting will result in variations of flavonoid antioxidant power. So a candy bar with a high percentage of cocao might have fewer flavonoids than a piece of chocolate with a lower percentage.

Do you need to eat a lot of chocolate to receive possible benefits?
You would have to eat at least 3 or more bars of chocolate per day. You also would have to do some exercise after eating that much chocolate or possibly gain weight. And that would not be necessarily good for you. Probably cut out some other goodies or food from your diet as well.

What else is known about chocolate and it’s potential for goodness

1. No huge Sugar Rush since it has fat to slow the sugar being absorbed.
2. Cocoa has chemicals that help inhibit bacteria in your mouth.
3. Chocolate is not as likely to cause tooth trouble like some other forms of candy.
4. Chocolate that indeed has a lot of s flavanols could have anti-inflammatory effects.
5. Fat in chocolate tends to be mostly saturated but is not the usual type of saturated fat; thus it does not increase the level of bad cholesterol.

However, chocolate is not the only thing to have flavonoid health benefits if you have fear of weight gain from the tasty treat.

• Red Wine but only some of them
• Tea
• Grape juice if it is the black type

Chocolate is an awesome treat. For the Holidays you can’t beat it in a gift basket. It has some nutritional value like some vitamins such as vitamin B and has some other nutrients like potassium. There is more…

Chocolate gives you energy but it isn’t because of sugar. So enjoy the yummy chocolate treat and you could receive some nice benefits from a high quality piece of gourmet or organic chocolate. There are more benefits of chocolate but that is for another article.

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