Should we greet the Easter Bunny with open arms?

With Easter upon us I thought it a good opportunity to discuss the merits or demerits of those lovely chocolate gifts that are so kindly delivered at this time of year by the Easter Bunny. I have seen a lot of articles recently debating the pros and cons of chocolate and below is my take on the argument.

Believe it or not there are many health benefits to be obtained by eating chocolate, however the chocolate referred to is chocolate in its purest form that is as close to the cocoa bean as you can get. Unfortunately most of the chocolate we see (and eat) is full of added ingredients such as Cocoa Butter, sugar, lecithin, vanilla and milk.

So what can we possibly benefit from eating chocolate then I hear you say? Well the secret is in the cocoa content of the chocolate. The more cocoa, the less of the other ingredients mentioned above. Generally the highest cocoa content is found in dark chocolate and the higher the cocoa content the more antioxidants you will find. These antioxidants help rid the body of free radicals, which are nasty little molecules running amok in your body and causing aging and disease. The antioxidants bond to the free radicals and remove them from your body via digestion and other means.

Some common antioxidants you may have heard of are contained in things such as Red Wine, Green Tea and Blueberries however dark chocolate has even more antioxidants than any of these. Another benefit is that antioxidant rich diets have been scientifically linked to a lowered risk of heart attacks, stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer, high blood pressure, cholesterol problems, arthritis, asthma and Alzheimer’s disease. So we can say that chocolate is good for you when the above is taken into account.

The main down side to the argument is the fat, sugar and caffeine content of all chocolate. As mentioned before the higher the cocoa content the less cocoa butter and therefore less fat contained in chocolate. As for sugar, a strong dark chocolate bar contains approx 10-15 grams of sugar which compares to 22 grams in a glass of orange juice or 29 grams in a cup of yoghurt. With the caffeine, an average bar contains approx 27 milligrams of caffeine which is about half what you would find in a can of coke and a third of what you would find in a cup of coffee.

So for next Easter a small amount of dark chocolate might just be the perfect gift to satisfy your friends sweet tooth while providing the many benefits to their body

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