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Chocolate: healthy or unhealthy?

Chocolate comes in a wide variety of flavors. But irrespective of whether it is dark, white, or milk chocolate – one thing is certain: Chocolate is not accurately healthy due to the fact that it contains a lot of sugar and fat and thus also a lot of calories. You may need dissertation statistics help for your chocolate consumption.

Chocolate: calories and ingredients

Chocolate is rich in fat and sugar and therefore anything but healthy at first. The ingredients can vary slightly depending on whether it is dark, white, or milk chocolate.

What all varieties have in common, however, is that they contain a relatively high amount of calories. On average, a bar has 500 to 550 calories. This already covers a quarter of the daily calorie requirement of an adult.

White chocolate is the unhealthiest of the three variants. On average, it has the most calories and also contains the most sugar: 100 grams contains around 63 grams of sugar and 30 grams of fat.

Milk chocolate has a similar number of calories, but at 57 grams it contains a little less sugar. Their fat content is similarly high at 29.5 grams.

In comparison, dark chocolate is the healthiest choice: with almost 500 calories. In addition, it contains “only” 44 grams of sugar, but 36 grams of fat.

Does chocolate make you happy?

There are various substances in chocolate that are said to have a mood-enhancing effect. Cocoa powder has theobromine, which, like caffeine, arouses the circulation and is mood-enhancing too.

The mood-enhancing effect that the sweet treat is said to have, however, cannot be fully explained by the ingredients mentioned. Psychological factors are probably also responsible for the fact that chocolate makes us happy. Because when we eat it, our reward system is activated and the neurotransmitters dopamine and endorphins are released.

Positive effect on health

Consumption of chocolate – especially dark chocolate – can cause the levels of heart-protective antioxidants to rise sharply for some time since cocoa powder contains flavonoids. This has a positive effect not only on blood pressure but the heart as well.

If you regularly consume small amounts of dark chocolate, you should be able to lower your blood pressure as well as the risk of a stroke or heart attack.

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