Lowering Your Cholesterol

Everybody loves chocolate. But do you know that even though it might seem like it surely can’t be good for you that in fact it really is. In small quantities that is, this tasty treat can do much to help your heart and even prevent heart disease. First of all chocolate is a plant product.  It is made from the cacao bean that comes from a tree. Plants do not produce cholesterol, only animals do. Additionally dark colored plants are known to have many health benefits one of which is flavonoids.  Flavonoids act as antioxidants which protect the body by neutralizing free radicals (charged chemicals which are byproducts of body processes).  Free radicals roam the bloodstream and when they encounter LDL particles (bad cholesterol), they can oxidize them. In their oxidized state, LDL particles can more easily burrow into the artery-cell walls and hasten hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).  

Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times as many as found in strawberries). It has been shown to reduce LDL levels by as much as 10 percent.

  Dark chocolate does contain fats, but only about one third of them are harmful to the arteries. 

Since dark chocolate is high in calories, consumption should be limited to 100 grams a day or about 3.5 ounces. One bar of dark chocolate has about 400 calories, so if you eat ½ a bar a day you may balance your diet by eating less of something else.