The Doings larendon Hills
February 19, 2009Valentine's Day has come and gone, and it brought the temptation of chocolate -- but could this be healthy for you?
There has been a lot of discussion over the past few years about the health benefits of dark chocolate as well as another temptation, red wine. With both, the key is frequency of consumption.
"When it comes to wine, it's the amount you drink that controls the health benefits," explains Anthony Tze, M.D., an internal medicine physician on staff at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital. "When my patients ask about wine, I focus heavily on moderation as the key concept for wine consumption."
As Tze explains, red wine, specifically in moderation can have many key health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease and raising the good cholesterol (HDL).
Also found in red wine are non-alcoholic phytochemicals such as resveratrol which have been shown in studies to prevent plaque build-up in the arteries and help prevent blood clots.
"However, people need to remember that if you don't drink wine in moderation, the health benefits are lost. Wine, like any alcohol, consists of empty calories, which essentially are calories that lack nutrients, and therefore lead to weight gain," explains Tze. "The same goes for dark chocolate. While dark chocolate can help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, it too is high in calories and people must be conscious of that."
Dark chocolate has flavonoids, just like those of fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants that are plant derived, in the case of dark chocolate, from cocoa. The flavonoids found in dark chocolate help lower blood pressure and cholesterol, while also helping reduce the risk of cancer. Milk chocolate does not share the same benefits because it has lower cocoa content.
While the healthy benefit exists similarly in fruits and vegetables, dark chocolate is in no way a substitute.
Fruits and vegetables are still much healthier and pack a fraction of the calories that dark chocolate does.
"When determining the correct portion of dark chocolate to eat, I would suggest to my patients that they consume a small snack size dark chocolate bar (1.6 ounces), or one to two small pieces, if choosing from options in a box of chocolates. By eating this amount, they are claiming the health benefits, while also not going overboard in calorie consumption," says Tze.
Tze also stresses that if allowing a glass of wine or a piece of dark chocolate, people will want to reduce their calories somewhere else in their diet to balance daily caloric intake.
Finally, as a rule, men should have no more than two glasses of wine per day and women should have no more than one glass of wine per day, in order for the health benefits to be present.
A one-glass portion of wine is considered five ounces of red or white.
The good news is that if you follow these portion suggestions, the antioxidant rich red wine and dark chocolate are great ways to treat yourself while still getting some health benefits.
Chris Doucet wrote this column for Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare.