Dark Chocolate Proven to Reduce Stress
November 11, 2009 by Peggy Rowland
Filed under Women's Health
If you’re feeling stressed, eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate each day could reduce stress hormones in your body.
A clinical trial published in the ACS Journal of Proteome Research took a scientific look at the stress-reducing power of dark chocolate. The results: eating about 1.5 oz of dark chocolate each day for two weeks lowered levels of stress hormones in people feeling highly stressed. In addition, researchers note that dark chocolate partially corrected different stress-related biochemical imbalances. This is one of the first studies to analyze how dark chocolate affects stress hormones in humans.
In the published article on this dark chocolate study, the authors write:
“Chronic stress is correlated with increases in stress hormones cortisol and catecholamines, … and our results suggest potential beneficial implications of dark chocolate consumption for reduction of mental and/or physical stress and improvement of the metabolic response to stress.”
If you like white or milk chocolate instead of dark, are you out of luck? Perhaps. A previous study on dark chocolate (conducted by Dr. Dirk Taubert and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association) indicates it’s also good for lowering blood pressure, but the same benefit wasn’t found with white or milk chocolate. The cocoa phenols in dark chocolate are believed to be responsible for its blood-pressure-lowering effect.
As with all things, dark chocolate in moderation is better. Remember, it’s not free of fat or calories. You shouldn’t reach for dark chocolate instead of a banana, but if you need a treat, it’s nice to know that dark chocolate is around with its stress-relieving and blood-pressure-lowering love. If you’re unsure of adding dark chocolate to your diet, speak with your doctor about your particular health conditions. Don’t stop taking your meds for chocolate.
(Image via flickr/heliosphan)
