Good news for all those who cannot resist a (small) square of dark chocolate: a recent American study (published in the Journal of American Heart Association) has just shown that the latter is good for our arteries.
This work concerns in particular all those who suffer from peripheral arterial diseases: these are pathologies that affect the arteries that crisscross the arms, the stomach, the head but also (and above all) the legs. Because of a blood pressure too weak, patients are in fact more often prone to cramps, fatigue and pain, especially in the legs.
A matter of polyphenols
After giving dark chocolate to 20 patients (aged 60 to 78), the researchers found that the participants could walk a little longer without feeling pain in their legs (17 seconds longer, to be exact).
They concluded that the polyphenols contained in dark chocolate decreased our level of oxidative stress (stress caused by an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants present in our body) and also increased our level of nitric oxide, a substance well known to increase the arterial pressure.
But beware: to benefit from the benefits of these polyphenols, you have to bite into chocolate with more than 85% cocoa. So we drop milk chocolate and Nutella…
Do you regularly consume dark chocolate? Do you know of any other health benefits? We talk on the forum !