The Heart of the Matter
Health and Chocolate. Your mom told you
to eat your vegetables. But did she also say to eat your chocolate?
Don’t worry. It’s never too late to start a good habit - and more and
more studies show that eating dark chocolate qualifies as exactly
that. It appears that chemical compounds found in cacao offer
many of the same health benefits that vegetables do.
What does that mean this month for fans of Gearhart’s Fine
Chocolates? That a Valentine’s gift from us will really touch your
darling’s heart - not only because you’ll be giving “sweets to the
sweet” but also because you’ll literally be offering your honey
cardiovascular benefits such as lower blood pressure, lower levels of
LDL (bad cholesterol) and improved circulation.
The most exciting health-related chocolate research centers around
polyphenols, which are chemical compounds found in plants. They
exist primarily in the skins of fruits and vegetables and are abundant
in wine, tea, juice and - as luck would have it - cocoa. The specific
phenolic compounds in cocoa are called flavanols, and they reduce
damage through their antioxidant properties. In other words, they
help protect us from the harmful molecules circulating in our
bodies every day of our lives.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you or your sweetie should belly up to
the chocolate bar on an hourly basis. Remember, moderation is a
key concept here, as elsewhere. Chocolate is a calorically dense food,
and it can be easy to overeat it. Also - only dark chocolate offers
the health benefits. In fact, some research shows that adding milk
interferes with your body’s ability to process the antioxidants.
That doesn’t mean you have to take your chocolate plain, however.
Many of the ingredients we use in our dark chocolates - citrus, nuts,
spices, cocoa nibs - offer health benefits of their own. Whatever you
choose, a dark-chocolate gift from Gearharts is a great way to show
that you can be trusted with your loved one’s heart.