The season’s hottest beverage
What sounds better than a cup of hot cocoa? Not a lot. Unfortunately, it does not come without a lovely little guilt trip. But what if we told you that hot chocolate can truly be beneficial to your health? You heard us right: chocolate isn’t always harmful for you.
In reality, we didn’t need another cause to bury ourselves in stuff. But it’s still nice to know that this mouthwatering holiday season classic has some wonderful health benefits!
The qualities of the mysterious cocoa bean explain why hot chocolate can have some great benefits for your general health. Raw cocoa is so high in antioxidants like polyphenols that it has been shown to help lower blood sugar and pressure, lower cholesterol, improve blood flow, and even reduce inflammation (hello, wonderful skin!).
Coming at you with more good news: cocoa may actually help out your heart health. More specifically, cocoa contains flavonols, which are known to have lots of health benefits, like the ones listed below:
- reduce levels of cholesterol
- lower blood pressure
- lower blood sugar
- reduce inflammation
- lower risk of heart attacks
- lower risk of strokes
There is, however, a catch: it was revealed that consuming a specific, tiny amount of cocoa helped lessen these risks, but if the quantity exceeded a certain threshold, the good outcomes were no longer detected. Essentially, they’re suggesting that a little bit goes a long way, but too much can cancel out the bean’s therapeutic properties.
Not so fast, chocolate enthusiasts! Before you go cuddling up on the couch with copious amounts of hot chocolate (and pushing play on your favorite winter holiday movies), keep in mind that processed cocoa loses a lot of these beneficial characteristics owing to processing, heating, and including additives. If you want to go the “healthy” route with your hot chocolate, look for natural cocoa goods that aren’t highly processed and, ideally, have higher nutritional content.
Basically, as with everything, cocoa is good in moderation. So keep that in mind next time you’re sipping on a mug of hot chocolate.
