Why you should eat a daily dose of chocolate

It’s health — Hershey-fied.Doctors and nutrition experts often warn against eating too much candy, especially all the ultra-processed junk that’s high in sugar and saturated fat.But today, some sweet news: You don’t need to shun chocolate — in fact, adding a dose of the dark variety to your daily diet may have a whole slew of bodily benefits.“What makes dark chocolate a unique and rewarding dessert is that there really are some health benefits to it,” Bethany M.Doerfler, a clinical research dietitian at the Northwestern Medicine Digestive Health Center, told the Washington Post.Dark chocolate is rich in theobromine, a bitter alkaloid found in cocoa beans.

It works as a nervous system stimulant and mood enhancer — and might also keep you biologically young.One study found this compound could have anti-aging effects.Specifically, people who had higher theobromine in their blood had DNA methylation patterns (tiny chemical tags) attached to DNA that looked younger than their biological age.

They also had longer telomeres, the caps on the ends of chromosomes, that normally shorten with age.Chocolate is also chock full of flavanols, which are known for antioxidant properties of lowering inflammation.Another study looked at how chocolate could help with “inflammaging” — low grade inflammation that hastens aging over time.They found that chocolate could help drop levels of one pro-inflammatory protein 8.4% each year.While those helpful flavanols reduce inflammation, they might also reduce oxidation of LDL cholesterol — which can build up as plaque in arteries, raising risk of heart attack or stroke.That said, milk chocolate doesn’t count — it has too much milk and fat.

“Treats rich in added sugar, butter or coconut oil likely raise the risk of heart disease and substituting dark chocolate as the choice is a positive move,” cardiologist Dr.Joel Kahn told Yahoo! Health.Those flavanols also help your blood vessels dilate, improving blood fl...