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Dark chocolate, despite its reputation as a sweet treat, offers numerous health benefits. One of the more significant health benefits is the role it plays in boosting testosterone levels in the body to help regulate mood, libido and energize you. Therefore, increasing dark chocolate consumption can actually serve as a very useful health supplement.
This blog will offer an in-depth discussion on the various benefits of eating dark chocolate and particularly how dark chocolate can help boost testosterone levels. It will conclude on other ways that you can boost your testosterone to make your workouts more intense, improve your erectile dysfunction and to enhance your sex-drive.
- What ingredients are in dark chocolate?
- What are the health benefits of dark chocolate?
- How dark chocolate increases testosterone levels
- Other natural ways to boost testosterone
What Ingredients Are In Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate is chock-full of healthy ingredients that are responsible for the benefits of dark chocolate. The core ingredient in chocolate is a paste called cocoa liquor. Cocoa beans are ground down, roasted, shelled and fermented to create small pieces of paste called nibs. These nibs are then mixed with cocoa butter and sugar to create what we know as chocolate.
The “darkness” of chocolate depends on the concentration of this paste in any chocolate; as such, milk chocolates have lower concentrations of paste, while dark chocolate has higher concentrations.
The ingredients of dark chocolate include:
Monosaturated Fats
Stearic acid is a primary component of cocoa butter that is mixed with cocoa liquor. Stearic acid happens to be a type of fat that doesn’t increase the risk of cholesterol or heart disease.
In fact, it’s widely used throughout the body to help with cell synthesis and as a major ingredient for many chemical reactions taking place in biology. Anyone who thinks that dark chocolate increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease can now rest easy knowing that the candy doesn’t present much of a risk.
Fiber
Dietary fibers are an essential part of keeping your gastrointestinal tracts healthy and it’s responsible for healthy bowel movements. Dark chocolate has the highest concentration of insoluble fibers which can reduce the risk of developing type II diabetes and are essential for healthy weight management.
Minerals
Dark chocolate is also full of essential minerals that can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and the risk of high blood pressure.
Compared to other types of chocolate, dark chocolate has high concentrations of potassium, magnesium, copper, and calcium, each of which plays a vital role in improving vascular health.
Antioxidants in Chocolate
Chocolate contains high amounts of antioxidants, which can help reduce inflammation in the body and can decrease the risk of developing conditions like neurodegenerative disease, arthritis, and many others.
Two major antioxidants in chocolate include caffeine and theobromine which can stimulate the nervous system, help improve blood flow throughout the body and also act as antioxidants in the process.
The relatively high amounts of caffeine in dark chocolate can help reduce the frequency of erectile dysfunction and the antioxidant role played by various flavonoids can improve your general health.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Dark Chocolate?
Dark chocolate offers immense health benefits for the entire body. These include offering nutrition to the nervous system, reducing the risk of developing diabetes, and many others. In specific, the health benefits of dark chocolate are:
Improves Cardiovascular Function
Dark chocolate contains a variety of chemicals like flavonoids and alkaloids which directly improve the functioning of the cardiovascular system. Substances like Theobromine, Catechins, and essential sugar work through different mechanisms to deliver these effects.
Studies focused on the role of dark chocolate in improving the health of the body have found that it can help reverse the effects of various CVDs like fibromuscular dysplasia and can reduce blood pressure. Additionally, these studies also identified that dark chocolate might help with improving the health of blood vessels throughout the body by affecting the release of Nitrogen Oxide in the blood.
Improves Brain Function
The ingredients of dark chocolate have been known to deliver neuroprotective effects, which can help sustain the health and wellness of the brain, as well as the central nervous system. The flavonoids in dark chocolate and the saturated fats found in it prevent the death of neurons in the central nervous system.
These effects are even more pronounced because of the easy absorption of these flavonoids in the bloodstream. Since these flavonoids have high bioavailability, these can easily cross the blood-brain barrier to deliver anti-oxidative and neuroprotective effects which can prevent or slow down the development of many neurodegenerative diseases.
Additionally, it has been observed that chocolate and cocoa can help improve the blood flow throughout the nervous system to help improve cognitive functioning. With the consumption of dark chocolate, you could potentially find that you can concentrate much better, your reflexes will sharpen and your recall will be much quicker.
Mood Enhancement
Studies directed towards studying the role of chocolate as a mood enhancer found that the substance can actually improve mood or at the very least prevent the progression of negative thoughts. The flavonoids found in dark chocolate are linked to having psychoactive effects, which can affect cognitive patterns and have an anti-depressant effect on patients suffering from mood disorders.
These studies found that the chemical components found in chocolate can induce an increased release of neurotransmitters in the brain, which allows chocolate to have these effects. Additionally, the high carbohydrate concentrations in chocolate are associated with a comforting effect on people.
This, in combination with the presence of caffeine in dark chocolate, has long-since associated dark chocolate as a mood modulator.
Improved Insulin Sensitivity
People with blood pressure also often are resistant to insulin, which is why they also develop type II diabetes. Type II diabetes is a condition that is often found in combination with hypertension, where blood vessels don’t respond to the insulin released in the body. This technically qualifies as insulin resistance, which is a defining characteristic of type II diabetes.
Dark chocolate has been found to enhance the production of nitric oxide in the body, which is responsible for the dilation of blood vessels. The release of insulin also causes a release of nitric oxide, which causes blood vessels to dilate.
People with high blood pressure have stiff blood vessels that do not respond to the presence of insulin and these restricted blood vessels cause an increase in blood pressure. With the consumption of dark chocolate and the corresponding increase in nitric oxide concentrations in the blood, studies found, people became much more sensitive to insulin.
Improved Energy
Chocolate contains high concentrations of carbohydrates, glucose, and calories. The higher concentration of sugars, carbs, and calories makes them a great source of energy. Experts are of the opinion that this may also be because of the neural effects of dark chocolate and the role it plays in the dilation of blood vessels.
Additionally, since dark chocolate can effectively increase blood glucose concentrations, it gives off a burst of energy that you would not find in any other supplement.
Reduced Inflammation
Dark chocolate is abundant in flavonoids and antioxidants, which can reduce the intensity of oxidative stress and thus the inflammation occurring as a result. Although the body needs oxygen to continue performing the chemical reactions essential to healthy functioning, sometimes the body accumulates excessive oxygen.
The excessive oxygen continues to flow throughout the body and produces excessive heat, which causes inflammation. Interestingly enough, inflammation and oxidative stress have been associated with medical conditions like arthritis, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Tourette’s syndrome. Increasing the consumption of dark chocolate can help avoid these conditions altogether.
How Dark Chocolate Increases Testosterone Levels
There are multiple ways in which dark chocolate can enhance amounts of testosterone in the body. Considering the stress alleviating effects and ingredients that can boost the production of testosterone, it’s one of the more effective testosterone enhancing supplements that you can find. The ways in which dark chocolate boosts testosterone production include the following.
Magnesium and Zinc Supplementation
Both magnesium and zinc have been found to play a vital role in the production of testosterone in the body. Dark chocolate contains high amounts of either of these two minerals which can help elevate testosterone production.
As such, if you increase your intake of dark chocolate, you will automatically also provide the body with the vital ingredients to increase testosterone production.
Antioxidant Effects on the Testes
The testes are responsible for the production of testosterone in the body. One major reason for a drop in testosterone levels is increased oxidation in the testes, which hampers the production of the hormone in the body.
Dark chocolate, with its various flavonoids, is a known antioxidant that can reduce the oxidation and therefore the oxidative stress on the organs. This will help improve testicular function and thus restore testosterone production to original, much higher levels.
Stress Releasing Effects
When you’re stressed out, your body releases a combination of hormones including adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol. When you’ve been stressed for long periods of time, the increased concentration of these hormones can be detrimental to normal bodily processes.
In stressful situations, the body is much more concerned with survival, rather than with reproductive or developmental goals and therefore uses these hormones to reduce the production of testosterone. Consistent stress can reduce the concentration of testosterone in the body and thus induces a testosterone deficiency.
Dark chocolate has been associated with reducing stress and anxiety; thus also reducing the concentrations of cortisol in the blood. Once the amount of cortisol being released into the bloodstream is reduced, your body will automatically begin to produce more testosterone. Therefore, with the use of dark chocolate, and its stress-relieving effects, you can boost testosterone concentrations in your body.
Want to learn more about how dark chocolate can benefit your health? Then we recommend you watch this little video. After that, we’ll move on to have a look at other natural ways to boost your testosterone levels!
Other Natural Ways To Boost Testosterone
There are other natural supplements and herbs that you can try out to boost the production of testosterone in the body. These include:
Zinc and Magnesium Supplements
Zinc and magnesium are vital ingredients in the production of testosterone. Research finds that men suffering from testosterone deficiencies are also deficient in magnesium and zinc.
Incorporating foods that contain high concentrations of the two minerals can help increase the level of testosterone being produced in the body. Moreover, you could also choose to try out supplements that can increase the quantity of these two minerals to boost testosterone production.
Vitamins B6 and D
Vitamins are crucial in various biological processes, including cell development and healthy tissue growth. These also serve as sources of energy for the body. One particular role of vitamins B6 and D is how these can help with the production of testosterone in the body.
Fenugreek
Fenugreek is a herb that has long since been associated with treatments for sexual dysfunctions like ED and low libidos.
Conclusion
Dark chocolate presents much potential in terms of helping boost testosterone levels in the body. This candy, in addition to its delicious taste, has ingredients that offer health benefits throughout your body.
Compared to other testosterone boosting products that you find in the market, this is a much safer and healthier alternative.
