The benefits of cocoa and all its properties
The benefits of cocoa and all its properties
Cocoa is a wonderful food with incredible properties and benefits, much healthier than you probably think. Discover all its qualities, both for health and skin.
Cocoa, fundamentally as food, exerts remarkable stimulating properties that comfort and revive our body. Not in vain, it is one of the best-known foods that exist, especially because it is a product from which one of the most consumed desserts par excellence is obtained: chocolate.
And it is that we are facing a natural product extremely rich in polyphenols that in fact provides an interesting variety of benefits and health properties, able to stimulate our body, comfort us and increase our spirits.
A good example of its consumption is found in many of the products that, today, we can enjoy cocoa. In this sense, bitter cocoa is obtained from the clean seeds of cocoa, roasted and crushed. It is at this time when they are usually added sugar and milk for the production of the so-called milk chocolate.
All the benefits of cocoa
Stimulant of the nervous system
If there is a food that helps us feel good each time we consume it, that is cocoa without a doubt. Why? Basically, because it contains a series of components that act as stimulants and euphoriants.
This quality translates into something very simple: every time we eat a portion of pure cocoa or chocolate we get a pleasant sensation of wellbeing due to the presence of phenylethylamine, which acts in the brain triggering a state of emotional well-being and euphoria.
Improves mood
Cocoa helps increase the production of endorphins, hormones that improve our mood. In addition, we must not forget that it stands out for being a tremendously energetic food, a quality that translates into something very simple: it helps us to recover strength in situations of physical and mental fatigue, being used to keep us more active.
Stimulant of the digestive system
In addition to its qualities as a stimulant of our nervous system and our emotions, cocoa acts as an excellent digestive, in addition to becoming a wonderful stimulant of our digestive system.
Good against constipation
On the other hand, several studies have confirmed the benefits of cocoa as a natural relief against constipation, thanks precisely to the fact that it becomes an ideal food to tone and stimulate the digestive system.
But its qualities do not end here, since a study carried out by the State University of Louisiana (in the United States), found that certain substances present in cocoa reach the colon, where they are fermented by microorganisms and good bacteria present in our bacterial flora.
Excellent for maintaining good cardiovascular health
Did you know that cocoa is very rich in antioxidants? These natural compounds are able to prevent the negative action of free radicals in our body, helping to prevent the degeneration of our cells (responsible for the appearance of many diseases).
Because of this richness in antioxidants, cocoa is ideal for our cardiovascular system, preventing the onset of heart disease. In addition, it helps reduce cholesterol and triglycerides.
Good for skin and against cellulite
These same benefits have a very important anti-cellulite, antioxidant and even softening activity, which is taken advantage of by chocolate therapy, a therapy that you will surely know how to apply to the skin through massages.
The most interesting thing besides all we have tried until these moments is its reducing capacity, ideal for people who want to take care of their line. Of course, this property would be only in the extract of pure cocoa itself.
Recent studies have estimated that approximately 4 capsules of cocoa would come to provide the same amount of polyphenols as 2 tablets of 250 g. of dark chocolate. Therefore, cocoa is ideal for fat burning, reducing, antioxidant and anti-cellulite.
What are the main contraindications of cocoa?
Although cocoa is usually a natural food with many health benefits, the truth is that, as with any other food or drink, this does not prevent you from presenting your own contraindications.
In this sense, on the one hand, we must bear in mind that cacao contains traces of caffeine so that its consumption is not advised in case of high blood pressure or nervous states.
On the other hand, when containing active ingredients with astringent qualities, especially due to the presence of tannins, its consumption is not recommended either in case of constipation or hemorrhoids.
Neither can we forget something fundamental: it is not the same to consume pure cocoa than to consume it as we find it today in most cases: in the form of chocolates and chocolates with a high content of added sugars, a high amount of fats, and without, a very small percentage of cocoa.
