Chocolate is one of the few foods that taste awesome while providing significant health benefits. There is considerable evidence that cocoa can provide powerful health benefits, being especially protective against heart disease. Of course, this doesn’t mean you should go all out and consume lots of chocolate every day. It’s still loaded with calories and easy to overeat.
But here are three reasons you can consume LaStevia’s 60% Dark Chocolate — guilt-free.
1. Ideal for health-conscious & diabetics
Most of the usual Dark Chocolate in the market holds sugar to match the bitter taste of cocoa. But LaStevia’s 60% dark chocolate is sweetened with zero-sugar, zero-calories natural stevia sweetener, so LaStevia’s dark chocolates have 0g sugar which is good to consume by people with diabetes.
The fatty acid profile of cocoa and dark chocolate is good. The fats consist primarily of oleic acid (a heart-healthy fat found in olive oil), stearic acid, and palmitic acid. In the long term, this should cause much less cholesterol to lodge in the arteries, resulting in a lower risk of heart disease.
2. A powerful source of Antioxidants
ORAC stands for oxygen radical absorbance ability. It’s a measure of the antioxidant activity of foods. LaStevia’s 60% Dark Chocolate is loaded with organic compounds that are biologically active and function as antioxidants. These include polyphenols, flavanols, and catechins, among others.
Cocoa and dark chocolate have a wide variety of powerful antioxidants. In fact, they have way more than most other foods.
3. May improve blood flow and lower blood pressure
The flavanols in LaStevia 60% Dark Chocolate can stimulate the endothelium, the lining of arteries, to produce nitric oxide (NO). One of the functions of NO is to send signals to the arteries to relax, which lowers the resistance to blood flow and therefore reduces blood pressure.
The bioactive compounds in cocoa may improve blood flow in the arteries and cause a small but statistically significant decrease in blood pressure.
