Recent news that chocolate is good for you will be music to the ears of many chocoholic like me and just in time for Easter, but and there is always a but with things like this only certain types of chocolate actually have health benefits.
The average milk chocolate bar with its high levels of sugar and calories as well as other flavourings is not at all good and especially in large quantities but darker chocolates and unsweetened cocoa powder is.
Now for the science part as to why, the key component of chocolate that has the health benefits are flavanoids, which are found in the seeds of cacao plants (from which chocolate is made). These flavanoids are generally bitter in taste so are normally removed in most commercial chocolate processing however darker chocolates and unsweetened cocoa powder still have some in! Hurray!
So this Easter I am going to opt for a nice darker chocolate Easter egg and enjoy safe in the knowledge it’s not that bad for me, well one isn’t!
Dark chocolate Easter egg
Picture courtesy of Chocolate Review