Q&A: Not just a ‘sweet treat,’ dark chocolate packed with benefits for a healthy gut
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Good news for chocolate lovers: In moderation, dark chocolate boasts numerous health benefits from flavanols, antioxidants and fiber, all of which aid in promoting gut wellness.
“It has some unique properties to it,” Sunny Jain, MS, CEO and founder of Floré by Sun Genomics, said. “We always thought that chocolate was a simple treat, but dark chocolate and its fiber content can be a great prebiotic source for bacteria that feed on those types of fiber.”
Source: Adobe Stock.
In an interview with Healio, Jain spoke about the benefits of dark chocolate and its impact on gut health.
Healio: What are some of the health benefits of dark chocolate?
Jain: Dark chocolate has a lot of strong benefits from flavanols, antioxidants and fiber. You can get antioxidant benefit from supplements or you can get it from your foods — and this is one way to get it through your foods. Antioxidants are the molecules that help quench reactive oxygen species, and things that are causing damage to your cells or proliferating your cells are causing these inflammatory cascades and cytokine storms. Antioxidants can be a helpful way to balance those things out.
Dark chocolate also has polyphenols from cocoa beans, which can provide heart health benefits. Polyphenols also increase the concentration of Roseburia — a group of organisms in the gut — that provide that antioxidant benefit. You’re actually feeding the organisms of the gut that are going to provide you an antioxidant benefit.
One way to think about keeping your gut healthy is going for the healthier option. People now recognize dark chocolate as a healthier option than some of the ways we used to consume chocolate, which were probably higher in sugar content. And separating it from milk chocolate, which might have more saturated fat from milk.
Healio: How much dark chocolate is recommended?
Jain: We definitely don’t want to take ourselves to the tummy-ache limit. Everything in moderation can be good, and when you have these polyphenols and flavanol benefits then a reasonable serving or a couple servings in a day is going to be OK.
There are specific organisms of the gut that we believe things like dark chocolate can trigger, especially when you’re consuming foods that have polyphenols, like berries. When you’re looking for a sweet treat, instead of reaching for cake, perhaps reach for a dark chocolate-covered fruit. A dark chocolate-covered berry would be a much better option in the better-for-you category, because it has that polyphenol benefit.
As long as it matches the rest of your nutritional distribution: You have to make sure you’re eating other healthy things, like diverse prebiotic fibers from vegetables and low-saturated and good unsaturated fat foods and nuts and legumes. Mix it in, and dark chocolate is a reasonable way to get a treat for the day.
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