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Benefits and harms of chocolate: when and how much should you eat
03.03.2024 11:10
Chocolate is an amazing product that is enjoyed by people of all ages.
It's used in both sweet and savory dishes. But is it really fattening? When and how much should you eat?
Is it useful? Let's find out.
Does chocolate make you fat or not?
The answer to the question of whether chocolate really makes you fat is: it depends on the type of chocolate. In fact, 100 g of dark chocolate contains up to 495.2 calories, but there are many more calories in milk chocolate (514.2 calories per 100 g) and white chocolate, which many people don’t even consider chocolate because it’s made from cocoa butter, not beans.
However, chocolate itself is not a fatty food, especially if it is 70% dark. Eating such chocolate can reduce the amount of fat distributed throughout the body. It is important to remember that you should not eat more than thirty grams of this type of chocolate per day.
Benefit
Dark chocolate is a rich source of flavonoids, antioxidants that are also found in other foods such as grapes, citrus fruits, or berries.
The presence of these substances in chocolate helps:
- protect the heart due to its cardioprotective effect;
- fight diabetes;
- support the immune system;
- restore the balance of bacterial flora in the intestines;
- resist the development of cancer and Alzheimer's disease;
- reduce fatigue after working out in the gym or physical exercise.
Chocolate is a stimulant and has an anti-stress effect, as it increases the production of serotonin, the so-called hormone of joy.
Harm
It should be said that in rare cases, eating chocolate can cause an allergic reaction in the form of a rash, breathing problems, itching and general discomfort. In these cases, you should contact an allergist to undergo an allergy test and eliminate the problem with antihistamines.
Chocolate should not be consumed by pets such as dogs and cats and should be kept away from them as it can be toxic to their bodies.
Those who suffer from chronic migraines, have gastritis or other intestinal disorders, have increased nervous excitability, should limit the amount of chocolate consumed. Chocolate can be added to the diet of pregnant women and nursing mothers with great caution.
But despite some restrictions on consumption, chocolate is a product that brings pleasure, mood and undoubted benefits to the human body.
Earlier we wrote about the benefits of turmeric and pepper for the body .
