Who doesn’t love a mug of hot chocolate? Whether you prefer it plain or like to doctor it up with whipped cream and peppermint shavings, it's the quintessential drink of the holidays. But new research says it’s a beverage you might want to sip on year-round since it comes with a lot of surprising benefits. According to the London Obesity Clinic, hot chocolate is high in antioxidants and can help regulate blood pressure, reduce blood sugar levels, and increase oxygen to the brain. And now, researchers claim that a certain type of hot chocolate can also reduce stress and boost heart health.
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The flavanols in dark chocolate can reduce stress.
Of course, we aren’t talking about any regular hot chocolate recipe here. In a new study published in the journal Food & Function, researchers from the University of Birmingham analyzed the effects of flavanols on stress.
“Flavanols are a specific class of compounds within the much larger family of polyphenolic compounds known as flavonoids,” explains the journal US Cardiology Review. They derive from fruits and veggies, including beans, spices, and nuts. But more commonly, flavanols are naturally found in pure cocoas and chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
The effect is especially noteworthy after eating fatty foods.
Their findings support that making hot chocolate with high amounts of flavanol can actually alleviate heart issues often associated with stress and poor diet (i.e. fatty foods)—and on that note, stress eating as well.
“We know that when people are stressed, they tend to gravitate towards high-fat foods. We have previously shown that fatty food can impair the body’s vascular recovery from stress. In this study, we wanted to see if adding a high-flavanol food to the fatty meal would alleviate the negative impact of stress in the body,” Catarina Rendeiro, PhD, lead author and assistant professor in nutritional sciences at the University of Birmingham, told SciTechDaily.
For the experiment, researchers provided 23 participants with high-fat meals and flavanol cocoa beverages before conducting a stress task. To test the effects of flavanol, some individuals were given drinks with 150 mg, while others consumed drinks with less than six mg.
The stress task challenged participants to answer as many math questions as possible within eight minutes. Each time they answered incorrectly, an alarm went off. “This stress task induced significant increases in heart rate and blood pressure, similar to the stress you may encounter in daily life,” explained first author Rosalind Baynham.
Afterward, researchers tested for blood flow, cardiovascular activity, and oxygen levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Baynham said they also measured vascular function to assess future risk of cardiovascular disease.
Researchers found that high-flavanol cocoa drinks can “counteract” health issues induced by stress and fatty foods, and can “protect the vasculature from stress.” The group who consumed the low-flavanol cocoa beverage experienced reduced vascular function. This lingered up to 90 minutes post-stress task.
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The takeaway.
“This research shows that drinking or eating a food high in flavanols can be used as a strategy to mitigate some of the impact of poorer food choices on the vascular system. This can help us make more informed decisions about what we eat and drink during stressful periods,” Rendeiro summarized.
Because most store-bought hot cocoa packets contain low doses of flavanols, the best way to reap the compounds’ benefits is to make hot chocolate at home with your own ingredients.
In an interview with Parade, registered dietician Sophie Lauver, MS, recommended using unsweetened, pure cacao. And if you can find it as dark chocolate, that's even better!
