Improves Mood
Eating chocolate is something that people do to boost their mood. Some attribute it to sweetness, but even dark chocolate, with its bitter flavor, can lift a person’s spirits. The reason for this is the presence of polyphenols in the chocolate. Besides helping with insulin resistance, the antioxidant is also a potent mood enhancer. It does this by lowering the amount of cortisol, which is the body’s stress hormone. The body releases cortisol to relieve inflammatory stress when a person is experiencing a tough time. While beneficial in the short term, it has adverse effects on mood and the body in the bloodstream. This situation is where chocolate comes in since it helps reduce cortisol presence.
Dark chocolate is incredibly effective. Researchers in one study learned that test subjects who ate chocolate with 85 percent cocoa content, usually dark chocolate, had better moods than those who ate chocolate with lower cocoa content. It was not only because of lower cortisol levels but improved gut bacteria that helped improve their moods.
