Chocolate is one of the best things you can eat, taste-wise.  However, increasingly, chocolate is looking like a wonder food for the promotion of good health, too.  While too much is a bad, fattening thing, eating a little chocolate in moderation is shown to have positive heart benefits, and if the cocoa chemists at chocolate maker Barry Callebaut have their way, chocolate will also help make your skin look better and keep you looking younger.

The secret to pretty much all of chocolate’s positive health benefits is the flavonols, or the antioxidants that are the source of all those other health effects of chocolate.  The goal of Callebaut’s research arm is to create dark chocolate that is richer in flavonols, thus creating a healther nibble of dark chocolatey indulgence that’s also good for you.  I, for one, welcome our new chocolate health overlords.

“Chocolate and health do not seem to fit together but it is a very interesting proposition:  if I can eat something I like and it is good for me, that is great,” said Callebaut Chief Innovation Officer Hans Vriens.  “Chocolate is probably at the bottom of the list when you think about making food healthier.”

There’s no reason for chocolate to be a bad thing.  If I’m going to eat it anyway, if it can improve my health and fight off free radicals, so much the better!  I want things that are good-tasting and good for me!

Tags: chocolate, health benefits of chocolate, Barry Callebaut, chocolate fights aging, chocolate promotes healthier skin, chocolate for health, healthy chocolate, food science, healthy eating

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