Yes, It's True, Dark Chocolate is a Superfood

For a long time, chocolate was considered nothing more than delicious empty calories and dismissed as junk food.  While it is true that it's not short on calories, further analysis in more recent decades has yielded a very pleasant and welcome surprise.  Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, has an abundant variety of health benefits.

In addition to great taste, one square of chocolate packs a very healthy nutritional punch.  Author Dtarazona,

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Polyphenols

Polyphenols are organic chemicals with structural phenyl rings.  They are a large class of antioxidants that include tannic acid, and its derivatives that are commonly known as the tannins.  Tannins are heavily abundant in red wine, and in dark chocolate.

These compounds are some of the biggest and best fighters against chronic inflammation.  Hence, that means it fights against the development of a whole host of serious illnesses, including cancer.  They also reduce the buildup of fat in the arteries and vessels, and increase the amount of HDL cholesterol in the body.

Flavonols

Flavonols are one sub group of the very large flavonoid class of molecules.  They are phytochemicals - these occur naturally in plants, and some individual ones can be identified in certain fruits by their color, and sometimes their taste.  For instance, the dark color of blueberries and cherries owes itself to the presence of anthocyanins.  The taste of cocoa is partly due to the group of flavonols.  The flavonol content of 100% pure cocoa powder is 30 milligrams per gram.  By contrast, other known superfoods such as blueberries, acai, and pomegranate have around 10 milligrams per gram.

Magnesium

Dark chocolate has about 95 milligrams in a 30 gram serving, or one square.  That alone is about one quarter of the recommended daily amount.  With almost 60% of the population not meeting their recommended magnesium intake on a regular basis, having two squares of dark chocolate per day would go a long way towards meeting the goal with other foods.

The potential consequences of chronic magnesium deficiency are numerous.  Among them are an increased risk of heart disease, Parkinson's disease, osteoporosis, Type II diabetes, and asthma.

Other Trace Minerals

100 grams of chocolate, or just over three squares, contain 90% of the RDA of copper, 98% for manganese, it also contains a plentiful amount of phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc.  Very few foods contain such a wide variety of the essential trace minerals.

Conclusion

The cacao content is very important to the degree of health benefits you will get from chocolate.  Dark chocolate contains much more than milk.  For optimal health benefits, aim for chocolate with at least 70% cacao.  It is sometimes an acquired taste, but it is very worth it once your palate adapts.