You know an odd feeling? Sitting on the toilet eating a chocolate candy bar.”

George Carlin, Comedian

Advantages & Disadvantages of Chocolate

advantages and disadvantages of chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most popular sweets all over the world.

Apart from its taste, it has several other benefits.

However, the consumption of chocolate also implies some problems.

Stop Food Speculation!

In this blog post, the pros and cons of chocolate are shown in detail.

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Advantages of Eating Chocolate

  1. Chocolate is known to brighten up our mood
  2. Can help against mental issues
  3. Chocolate can reduce our stress levels
  4. Dark chocolate can reduce the risk for cardiovascular issues
  5. Lower blood pressure
  6. Contains plenty of precious trace minerals
  7. Plenty of antioxidants
  8. Moderate chocolate consumption can be healthy
  9. May be better for you than other sweets
  10. Can help you through difficult periods of your life
  11. You may get a power boost
  12. Chocolate can help you to focus
  13. Good for stressful periods at work
  14. Chocolate can improve vision
  15. Chocolate consumption can be good for our memory
  16. You can share your positive attitude with others

Chocolate is known to brighten up our mood

One key advantage of chocolate is that it can significantly brighten up your mood.

It is quite astounding. If you feel bad, just get some chocolate and eat it.

You will soon notice that your mood will brighten up a bit, even if your situation might be as bad as before.

Thus, if you are in a bad mood for some reason, you might want to get some chocolate in order to get out of your misery and in a brighter and more positive attitude towards life.

Can help against mental issues

Since chocolate can brighten up your mood, it can also be quite helpful when it comes to treating mental issues.

Sure, chocolate is no magic pill and if you suffer from mental illness, you should always consult a professional doctor in order to overcome those problems.

Yet, chocolate can be a quite good and easy complementary measure in order to get you out of a bad mental state so that you can tackle your emotional problems more efficiently.

Chocolate can reduce our stress levels

Many people in our nowadays society also suffer from excessive stress levels.

Many of them work in demanding jobs for quite long hours and also often have plenty of stress back home.

If you are one of those people, instead of drinking beer to reduce your stress after work, you might rely on chocolate instead since it can also significantly lower your stress level and will not be as harmful as alcohol from an objective perspective.

Dark chocolate can reduce the risk for cardiovascular issues

Some sorts of chocolate can also reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Especially if you already had heart conditions in the past, you might want to consume moderate amounts of dark chocolate in order to protect your heart to a certain extent.

However, make sure that moderate does not translate into excessive consumption, since you will do more harm than good in such a case.

Lower blood pressure

Due to excessive salt consumption, due to excessive stress or also due to genetic circumstances, many people in our nowadays society also suffer from elevated blood pressure.

High blood pressure is quite harmful and can result in serious diseases of many sorts in the long run.

Thus, if you suffer from high blood pressure right now, you might want to try some chocolate in order to bring it down to a certain extent.

However, always also make sure to consult a doctor in order to take appropriate measures to lower your blood pressure.

Contains plenty of precious trace minerals

Chocolate also contains plenty of beneficial trace minerals that can also improve our overall health level.

Therefore, in order to supply your body with those healthy components, you might want to eat moderate amounts of chocolate on a regular basis.

Plenty of antioxidants

Some sorts of chocolate, especially dark chocolate often contain plenty of antioxidants, which can help to prevent cancer and other serious health issues.

Hence, by consuming a little bit of chocolate from time to time, your chances for serious diseases may decrease.

Moderate chocolate consumption can be healthy

Since chocolate contains many different precious components, moderate chocolate consumption can in fact improve our overall health level.

However, make sure that you keep it on a moderate level, since excessive chocolate consumption can lead to all sorts of health issues.

May be better for you than other sweets

Since chocolate contains so many different beneficial components, it might be better for your health compared to other sweets.

Thus, if you urgently feel that you need to consume sweets right now, chocolate may be the least harmful choice which can potentially even benefit your health.

Can help you through difficult periods of your life

Life is not always easy and everyone of us experiences difficult times in our lives sooner or later.

Since chocolate is able to brighten up our mood a little bit, it may help us during these times in order to overcome our physical or emotional pain.

You may get a power boost

Chocolate can also be quite helpful if you need a lot of power for some reason.

For instance, maybe you have to move to a new flat and need plenty of physical power to move all your heavy stuff to your new home.

In such cases, chocolate is good for you since it provides you with large amounts of power which can be converted into physical energy fast.

Chocolate can help you to focus

Another advantage of chocolate is that it might also help you to focus.

This can be quite important during exams since you often need all your mental power to get to the solutions and to get good grades in order to be able to get a good job afterward.

Good for stressful periods at work

Many people also rely on chocolate when they face challenging and stressful periods at work.

In some cases, there are strict deadlines and in order to get all the work done in time, we sometimes need a push.

This push can come in the natural form of chocolate, which is much better for our bodies compared to other substances that can vastly harm our health in the long run.

Chocolate can improve vision

Studies have also shown that our vision can improve due to chocolate consumption.

Therefore, if you have some problems with your vision, you could at least give it a try and consume a certain amount of chocolate on a regular basis.

After that, you can evaluate yourself whether chocolate can also improve your vision or not.

Chocolate consumption can be good for our memory

Some ingredients in chocolate can also improve our memory.

Therefore, especially if you tend to forget things rather quickly, you might try some chocolate in order to improve your mental capabilities.

You can share your positive attitude with others

When you are in a good mood due to chocolate consumption, chances are that you will also be able to improve the mood of others.

Thus, you might brighten up not only your mood, but you may also be able to make other lives more enjoyable.

Disadvantages of Chocolate

  1. Contains plenty of sugar
  2. Plenty of fats
  3. Chocolate is rich in calories
  4. Can lead to obesity
  5. Too much of it is harmful to our health
  6. People even get addicted to chocolate
  7. Some chocolates contain significant amounts of caffeine
  8. Some chocolates are much unhealthier than others
  9. You may experience sleeping problems
  10. Can be bad for your teeth
  11. Bad role model for your children
  12. Cocoa farmers may get exploited

Contains plenty of sugar

Apart from the numerous advantages of chocolate, there are also some problems related to chocolate consumption.

One downside of chocolate is that it often contains plenty of sugar.

Especially cheap chocolate is often rich in sugar, which can be quite bad for our health in various ways.

Thus, make sure to get high-quality chocolate with low amounts of sugar in order to make your chocolate consumption as healthy as possible.

Plenty of fats

Another downside of chocolate is that it often contains plenty of fats.

Those fats can be quite harmful to our health, especially if you consume too much chocolate on a regular basis.

Chocolate is rich in calories

Due to the high levels of sugar and fat in chocolate, it is also quite rich in calories.

For instance, one chocolate bar often contains multiple hundreds of calories.

Hence, if you consume too much of it, you may also suffer from serious overweight in the long run.

Can lead to obesity

Excessive chocolate consumption can not only lead to overweight, but even to serious levels of obesity.

In fact, obesity is one of the biggest health problems humanity faces right now and millions of people die each year due to it.

Consequently, try to avoid excessive chocolate consumption at all costs in order to avoid obesity and the related adverse effects for your health.

Too much of it is harmful for our health

As we have seen before, due to various reasons, too much chocolate can be quite harmful to our health.

Thus, always make sure that you keep your chocolate consumption at bay in order to avoid the adverse health effects of chocolate.

People even get addicted to chocolate

Since chocolate can brighten up our mood, some people literally become addicted to chocolate since they want to have this good feeling over and over again and cannot stop themselves from excessive chocolate consumption, which may translate into serious health issues in the long run.

Some chocolates contain significant amounts of caffeine

In some cases, chocolate can also contain significant amounts of caffeine, which can be rather unhealthy for our body.

Therefore, if you want to avoid those adverse effects, make sure to have a look at the ingredients and only buy chocolate that is free or at least contains only low amounts of caffeine.

Some chocolates are much unhealthier than others

There is also a significant difference in ingredients when it comes to chocolate.

While the cheap ones often contain excessive amounts of sugar and less cocoa, high-quality ones contain high amounts of cocoa and less sugar.

Thus, make sure to buy high-quality chocolate since it is often much healthier for your body and also tastes better on average.

You may experience sleeping problems

Due to the caffeine that is contained in some chocolates, you might also experience some sleeping problems.

Hence, if you want to consume those kinds of chocolates, at least make sure not to consume them in the evening in order to avoid sleeping issues.

Can be bad for your teeth

Chocolate can also be quite bad for your teeth.

Since it contains plenty of sugar, chocolate can lead to serious carious if you do not brush your teeth properly.

Consequently, after you eat chocolate, make sure to brush your teeth in order to protect them.

Bad role model for your children

Your children learn from your behavior every day.

Hence, you want to make sure that you do not consume excessive amounts of chocolate yourself in order to avoid that your children follow the same path.

Thus, if you have children, you should be a good role model and confine your chocolate consumption whenever possible.

Cocoa farmers may get exploited

There are also some problems related to the production of chocolate.

Many cocoa companies still exploit local farmers who often have to work for quite long hours and only get a quite poor wage.

Therefore, if you buy chocolate, make sure that it has been produced with the help of fair labor in order to protect those cocoa farmers.

Top 10 Chocolate Pros & Cons – Summary List

Chocolate ProsChocolate Cons
Chocolate may help against mental issuesChocolate may contain large amounts of sugar
Your mood might get betterUnhealthy fats
Plenty of precious ingredientsRich in calories
Healthy antioxidantsObesity
Can lower your stress levelYou can get addicted to chocolate
Can lower your blood pressureToo much is harmful to your health
May lower risk for cardiovascular diseasesMay contain caffeine
Might be better than other sweetsPossible sleeping issues
Chocolate may improve your visionBad for your teeth
May be good for your memoryExploitation of cocoa farmers

Is Chocolate Good For You?

As we have seen before, there are several pros and cons related to chocolate.

While moderate chocolate consumption can be beneficial for our health, too much of it can be quite harmful.

Thus, if you want to consume chocolate, make sure to do it in a moderate manner in order to avoid potential health issues in the long run.

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate

https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/types-of-chocolate

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.

As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.

After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.

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