Chocolate For Your Metabolism

If you’ve ever wondered if your love affair with chocolate is a one-sided relationship, don’t worry. The latest nutritional research has some very good news.

Because February is “Heart Month” as well as the month for Valentines Day, we will give you all the reasons why this delicious food is so good for you!

The consumption of cocoa does an amazing thing. It encourages blood vessels to grow their way into cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue. Once those muscles have more vessels, they also have an influx of oxygen and nutrients that lead to increased energy and metabolism (through increased numbers and sizes of your mitochondria). 

How much of an energy boost? According to this study, cocoa antioxidants alone produce a 30% increase in fatigue resistance and a 30% increase in new blood supply. Even better, the increase in energy that you get from combining it with exercise amounts to a boost of 50% more energy. 

How long will it take for these changes to occur?

It took 2 weeks for experimental animals to see a 30% increase in fatigue resistance. In a separate study, it took 4 weeks to see increased capillaries and mitochondria appear in the muscle tissue. And subjects with type 2 diabetes who were administered 100 milligrams of cocoa epicatechins per day for 3 months showed a significant increase in mitochondria. 

So remember that consistency cocoa consumption is key, and chocolate can be your vehicle for that intake.