Antioxidants in Chocolate


The chocolates natural antioxidants are called flavonoids and are believed to prevent cardiovascular disease. Flavonoids reduce blood clotting and ease blood-vessel constriction, thus making it harder for harmful deposits to attach the artery walls. A recent study showed that even a small, 40-gram (1.4 ounces) serving of chocolate produce measurable effects.

In our bodies, antioxidants are capable of deactivating certain particles known as free radicals. Free radicals are atoms or groups of atoms with at least one unpaired electron. Having one or more unpaired electrons makes an atom highly reactive, i.e. it wants to bind it self to other atoms. Free radicals are essentially good for us, since they promote beneficial oxidation that produces energy and kills potentially harmful bacteria. The down side to this is that free radicals are also capable of damaging our own cells, by attacking cell membranes as well as cell contents. Free radicals are produced by many natural processes in our bodies, but can also be created by unnatural factors like tobacco smoke, radiation and environmental pollution. This is where the antioxidants enter the scene. Antioxidants keep a watchful eye on the free radicals and destroy them if they become too many. These complicated systems are still pretty much a mystery to us and more research is needed to fully understand how it works.

As mentioned above, the antioxidant found in the cocoa bean is a flavonoid. The flavonoid found in chocolate is called epicatechin . Other sources for epicatechin are wine and green tea. Chemically speaking, a flavonoid is a low molecular weight phenylbenzopyrone. Flavonoids are not only found in the cocoa bean but in many other fruits, vegetables, wines, teas, nuts, roots and seeds as well. Actually, in most of the roots, nuts etc used for medical purposes there is a clear relation between their medical actions and their flavonoid content. Most flavonoids are antioxidants and some have anti-inflammatory properties.

If you are interested in the flavonoids it is better to choose dark chocolate than milk chocolate, since dark chocolate contains more cocoa bean extract. 40 gram (1.4 ounces) milk chocolate usually contains less than 400 milligrams of antioxidants, while the same amount of a dark chocolate contains 800 milligrams or more. Among the richest sources of all is unsweetened powdered cocoa which contains almost twice as many antioxidants as dark chocolate.

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