Chocolate may be beneficial for your heart and good for your mental state
Cacao is a medicinal wonder that contains many different active compounds which can evoke pharmacological effects within the body, like medicines or drugs.
Although it always makes me scoff slightly to see Easter eggs making their first appearance in supermarkets at the end of December, there are few people who aren’t delighted to receive a bit of chocolate every year.
It makes sense that too much chocolate would be bad for you because of the high fat and sugar content in most products. But what should we make of common claims that eating some chocolate is actually good for you?
Happily, there is a fair amount of evidence that shows, in the right circumstances, chocolate may be both beneficial for your heart and good for your mental state.
In fact, chocolate – or more specifically cacao, the raw, unrefined bean – is a medicinal wonder. It contains many different active compounds which can evoke pharmacological effects within the body, like medicines or drugs.
Compounds that lead to neurological effects in the brain have to be able to cross the blood-brain barrier, the protective shield which prevents harmful substances – like toxins and bacteria – entering the delicate nervous tissue.
One of these is the compound theobromine, which is also found in tea and contributes towards its bitter taste. Tea and chocolate also contain caffeine, which theobromine is related to as part of the purine family of...
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