You’ve heard it before, and maybe it’s the excuse you use for your afternoon snack break; Dark chocolate is healthy. You know that it has something to do with antioxidants (you might have even read it here!) but how exactly this works has not been totally understood, until now. Recently, a study out of Louisiana State College of Agriculture, revealed a clue as to how cocoa may be acting in a beneficial manner.
The findings, which were released during the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in March, showed that gut microbes may enjoy chocolate even more than we do. It appears that some of the “healthy microbes” in our digestive tracts, consume compounds in cocoa, and break them down into smaller molecules. These smaller molecules act both as anti-inflammatories, and may help to increase satiety after they have been consumed. This is one more fascinating piece of the puzzle explaining the role of bacteria in our digestive system!
A word of caution about these results. Like any bit of information, this is not the entire story. This was a preliminary study, done in test-tubes, and utilizing only a few of the multitude of bacteria in our micro biomes. The study was done using cocoa powder (dark chocolate has a higher proportion of cocoa than other types of chocolate), and anti-inflammatory compounds are only one of many influencers of health.
So continue to enjoy your chocolate, in moderation of course! Remember Mother’s Day is on Sunday, maybe she’d like some chocolate?
