More Dark Chocolate Health Benefits

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More dark chocolate health benefits? Could the news be any better? A study has shown that your eyes and brain can benefit from a dose of dark.

How? Increased blood flow.

Those fabulous flavanols found in cocoa increase the flow. Better blood flow boosted participants performance in eye and brain tests.

Good news, right? Well...if you're 25 and under like the test participants.

The rest of us will have to wait for the follow up results.

But the results won't matter if the required dose isn't doable.

Can you hope to consume enough cocoa flavanols without taking in too many calories?

Chocolate Test

Reading University researchers recruited 30 bright-eyed adults, 18-25 years of age, to eat chocolate for scientific purposes.

The participants were given 35 g of dark chocolate high in flavanols. A week later they were given 35 g of white chocolate low in flavanols.

The researchers tested their eyesight and thinking abilities while under the influence of each type of chocolate.

Under the peak influence of the dark chocolate flavanols, the test subjects were...

• better able to distinguish an object from its background
• faster at identifying movement direction
• quicker on some parts of the choice reaction test
• and spatial memory was enhanced

Take away lesson? Eat some very dark chocolate about 2 and half hours before facing rush hour traffic. Or before playing your favorite sport.

That'll give those flavanols time to kick in. Your eyes and brain will be better prepared for the challenge! Or will they?

How Much Do You Need to Reap Dark Chocolate Health Benefits?

Well, it's not so much about quantity. It's more about quality.

The test chocolate contained 720mg of cocoa flavanols. That's a huge dose!

Want to duplicate that dose?

Unfortunately, most chocolate companies don't list the cocoa flavanol content of their products. Why?

It's difficult to preserve, measure, and maintain consistent levels. Special processing and handling is needed and not practiced by many companies, yet.

But there are a few that do. Here are three...

Prestat Company

The Prestat Company produces Choxie+. That's the dark chocolate used in the above research.

The company web site states, “Choxi+ contains more flavanol antioxidants than any other food."

A 10g serving of Choxi+ Dark Chocolate has an ORAC score of 4600.

The 35g serving used in the test contained...

• 179 calories
• 8g of sat fat

Probably quite doable. Substitute this for your current candy bar or snack?

Now the bad news, for most of us anyway. Choxie+ is available from the company web site but there's no international delivery!

Retail locations are in England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Japan and South Africa.

Spread Choxi+ around Prestat Company. The rest of us want a chance at those dark chocolate health benefits.

Xocai

The Xocai Company claims, on it's web site, that all their products contain at least 900mg of flavonoids per serving.

Their Xocai X Power Squares are loaded with flavanols according to the company web site. But not all the flavanols come from the cocoa.

Each 6g power square has an Orac score of 3,582.

So if you eat 3 Xocai X Power Squares, one serving, you could be very close to the test dose. Those dark chocolate health benefits could be in reach.

But what's the cost to your waistline? Per 18g serving...

• 100 calories
• 6g of fat total, 5g sat fat
• 9g of carbohydrates

Not a bad choice. Could be perfect, if 720mg of the 900 mg comes from cocoa.

But I don't know so can't confirm whether cocoa flavanol content is high enough for eye and brain benefits.

This company's products are available in 30 countries from lots of Independent Distributors.

Brookside Foods

You may find Brookside Foods products in a store near you. A 40g serving of their Dark Chocolate Pomegranate candy contains 100mg of cocoa flavanols according to the package.

But to get the 720mg dose, you would have to eat more than 7 servings of their candy. That's over...

• 1000 calories
• 49g of fat
• 200g of carbohydrates

Wow! Unfortunately, not a practical source for obtaining a high dose of those fabulous flavanols.

But the company deserves credit for being one of the few to list the cocoa flavanol content of their products.

Yes, it's possible to get the required dose of cocoa flavanols. But it's not easy. It'll take work to boost your brain and eyes. But it should become easier to get those dark chocolate health benefits. More companies will offer high flavanol products in the future. Get ready to do the dose when the good news rolls in!




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