Another name for a wonderful plant is the chocolate tree. When cocoa butter (necessary for the production of chocolate) is squeezed out of its fruits, then the cake, which also has a common name - cocoa powder, becomes the final by-product. It is widely used in desserts, sweet pastries and drinks.

As you might guess, one of the advantages of cocoa powder is its low fat content. According to nutritionists, in order to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the product, you should drink cocoa at least twice a week.

Does cocoa increase or decrease blood pressure? Scientists cannot give a definite answer to this question. If you drink strong cocoa two liters a day, then you can abnormally increase blood pressure ( arterial pressure). With moderate consumption of the drink:

• there is an update of the vascular endothelium involved in the regulation of their ability to contract;
• increases the elasticity of the walls of the arteries, which reduces the risk of their spasms.

The latter is also affected by the fact that cocoa contains less caffeine than coffee.

According to scientists, cold cocoa treats hypotension better, and hot cocoa treats hypertension. The effect can be enhanced by adding appropriate spices - cinnamon, vanilla.

Ignoring the likely insomnia, cocoa is recommended to drink at night to treat increased intracranial pressure.

Cocoa on an empty stomach prevents thrombosis, which in chronic hypertension reduces the risk of stroke.

Summing up, we can say that a cocoa drink at high or low pressure is completely harmless. However, it is not recommended to combine it with tablets for the regulation of blood pressure.

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The benefits and harms of cocoa for athletes in bodybuilding

In cocoa, carbohydrates predominate, not proteins. It contains many essential amino acids in particular tryptophan. It has been proven that tryptophan deficiency leads to a decrease in muscle tone and the inability of the body to absorb proteins from food.

Bodybuilders are advised to treat themselves to cocoa before or after meals containing legumes, sour milk, poultry or fish.

Cocoa is high in:

• vitamins B9 and B2;
• magnesium and phosphorus;
• vitamin E.

Thanks to them, as well as other biologically active substances of the product, you can:

• increase physical endurance, which reduces the likelihood of injury during exercise;
• improve training performance;
• reduce pain after exercise;
• speed up dialing muscle mass.

Cocoa regulates energy metabolism, which means that muscle fibers will not “burn” during exercise.

It is known that thanks to cocoa, even with a significant set of muscle mass, the risk of pathogenic changes in its structure is reduced.

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The benefits and harms of cocoa for the heart

Epicaketine, a flavonoid present in cocoa, has a positive effect on the heart:

• strengthens the muscle;
• normalizes the heart rate and the ability to pass blood at high loads;
• improves the supply of oxygen to the body.

Naturally, it also matters that cocoa lowers blood sugar and cholesterol.

According to scientists from Tokyo, eating 5 cups of cocoa per week reduces the risk of heart attack by 28%.

We should not forget about the antioxidant compounds of cocoa. Thanks to them, heart cells are better updated and age more slowly.

Although cocoa is good for the heart in general, it is important to note that for many serious diseases (for example, with arrhythmia), moderation is needed with it in order to avoid aggravating the condition.

Many people believe that sweet, delicious food cannot be healthy.

It is not necessary to divide food into “bad” and “good”, but it is better to look at the pleasure received from food and nutrients. Today will be discussed health benefits of dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate not only has a great taste, it is useful for losing weight and building muscle mass.

Dark chocolate owes its magical properties mainly to epicatechin, one of the natural substances - flavonoids contained in cocoa beans. The darker the chocolate and the less processed it is, the higher the concentration of flavonoids in it.

Therefore, the beneficial properties of dark chocolate do not apply to milk chocolate and varieties with a cocoa mass fraction of less than 70%. In addition, chocolate must be produced without alkaline treatment, as the concentration of flavonoids is reduced by 60% as a result of alkalization.

Good bitter chocolate

The healing properties of epicatechin are a hot topic in recent research. For starters, it's a powerful antioxidant.

Some studies show that it also reduces the risk of stroke, cancer, and certain metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Thus, dark chocolate is equally useful for men who want to gain muscle mass, and women, as a rule, who want to lose weight.

Scientists from the Harvard University Medical School found that the indigenous people of South America, who consume a very large amount of a drink made from natural cocoa beans, are much less likely to get sick of cardio-vascular system.

Benefits of dark chocolate for women

Let's start from afar and talk about the hormones of happiness - endorphins. How does chocolate make us feel? Pleasure? It has been proven that taking chocolate improves mood, calms, and smoothes the feeling of loneliness. When we receive this treat, our body produces endorphins.

A large amount of serotonin is released if you occasionally treat yourself to dark chocolate. Serotonin relieves stress, has a positive effect on sleep and appetite, and forms a sense of pleasure. Just do not forget, there is no directly proportional relationship between the amount of chocolate eaten and the strength of the pleasure received. The “formula” rather boils down to the following: a healthy, self-satisfied, benevolent and joyful person attracts good luck to himself.

Dark chocolate for appetite suppression

Epicatechin stimulates the production of ghrelin, an appetite suppressant hormone, by sending satiety signals to the brain. It helps not to overeat.

Chocolate for blood sugar regulation

Insulin, as you know, is responsible for removing glucose from the bloodstream and triggering protein synthesis in muscle cells. An excess concentration of insulin leads to insulin resistance, which prevents the removal of glucose from the bloodstream.

This condition can lead to a range of serious illnesses such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Epicatechin, found in large quantities in dark chocolate, accelerates the excretion of glucose and increases insulin sensitivity, stabilizing blood glucose levels.

Dark chocolate boosts testosterone production

Firstly, the use of dark chocolate has a positive effect on the production of the main male hormone - testosterone. Epicatechin stimulates the pituitary gland to signal an increase in the secretion of two hormones: gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). As a result, testosterone production is enhanced, which affects the increase in muscle strength and volume, as well as sexual function. Increasing testosterone production will bring maximum benefit to intensive weight training.

Dark chocolate as a vasodilator

Another interesting feature of healthy dark chocolate for the elderly is that flavonoids from natural cocoa beans increase blood flow, similar to the popular pharmaceutical drug Viagra. In other words, cocoa acts as a natural vasodilator and helps to maintain sexual activity longer.

Long endurance workouts are obviously not for everyone, but if you love to exercise, you'll love it - epicatechin stimulates blood vessel dilation. The result is increased blood flow and circulation, reduced blood pressure and improved athletic performance.

Strengthening the growth of muscle mass

Flavonoids also increase nitric oxide levels by inhibiting the enzymes that break it down. Nitric oxide is very useful in that it stimulates the growth of satellite cells that repair damaged muscle tissue after a high-intensity workout. The importance of this property only increases with age, as in older people the production of satellite cells decreases, which automatically slows down the recovery of muscle tissue after damage.

Myostatin is a protein that inhibits muscle growth and differentiation, it stops hypertrophy. Suppression of myostatin leads to a significant acceleration of muscle mass growth. And myostatin has an antagonist: follistatin, a regulatory protein that suppresses myostatin signals. Both proteins act on each other until homeostasis (balance in the body) is achieved. The result is a significant, but not excessive, increase in muscle mass, which natural athletes strive for. The results of recent epicatechin studies have shown that the consumption of flavonoids stimulates the production of follistatin. Myostatin levels decrease naturally and muscle mass growth is accelerated without side effects characteristic of taking anabolic steroids.

Strengthening Muscular Endurance

This item is under review as experiments have only been performed on animals. An experiment on rats, described in The Journal of Physiology, showed that a daily dose of epicatechin significantly increased their endurance. They were able to complete more exercise over a longer period of time.

Increased endurance of rodents as a result of taking food additives persisted even after the abolition of daily exercise. Although such an experiment has not yet been conducted in humans, the results of the study look promising for human body. Such an effect can be very useful for athletes in the decline of sports form.

How much dark chocolate should (and can) be eaten?
To obtain a general health effect, the daily dose of dark chocolate can be about 30 grams (but remember that 100 g of dark chocolate contains 550 kcal). Remember that it should contain at least 70-85% cocoa.

If you are losing weight, you can reduce this dosage and vice versa: for muscle growth and strength, the dosage should be increased to 40-50 grams of dark chocolate per day.

By the way, epicatechin can be taken not only in the form of dark chocolate, but also in the form sports supplement 100-300 mg daily.

Conclusion

As a result of the emergence of more and more data on the benefits of flavonoids, the reputation of dark chocolate is changing before our eyes - it is not only a sweet treat, but also a product that is useful for the body.

While the outlook for dark chocolate and epicatechin looks bright, research on these substances is still ongoing. If you want to consume dark chocolate in order to accelerate the growth of muscle mass, then the rest of the diet should contribute to this goal. You can't eat haphazardly, don't keep track of calories and protein, and expect dark chocolate to do all the work for you.

Sport

During intense training, the body loses a large amount of fluid through active sweating, reducing blood volume, which is important for oxygen supply to muscles and organs, and the supply of electrolytes necessary for muscle contraction.

Rehydration plays a huge role in post-workout recovery. And then the natural question arises, need to drink after training, so as not to harm the body.

In our article, we will analyze which drinks should not be consumed after a workout and why.

What not to drink after a workout

1. Sports drinks

Sports energetic drinks- it is nothing but a mixture of salt, sugar, water and dye. Very often in the composition of the drink you can find other ingredients that are credited with energy and fat-burning properties. Most often it is guarana, caffeine, yohimbine, etc. Manufacturers claim that the use of energy drinks will return your energy boost and replenish all fluid losses. In a sense, it is. Sugar, as a 100% carbohydrate, is indeed a source of energy for the body, but its action is unstable and, as a result, only harms health. After a quick burst energy level falls, and the body does its best to balance the toxic effects of sugar.

The beneficial effect of other additives can also raise doubts: the effect of guarana on the body has not yet been fully studied, and, for example, caffeine is a diuretic, i. a drink containing it will not saturate the cells with moisture, but, on the contrary, will work for dehydration. In addition, sports drinks are high in refined salt. This is done to make up for what the body has lost with sweat. However, the salt that is added to sports drinks is not The best way restore sodium levels. In large quantities, it can only cause damage to the body, in particular, harm the arteries.

2. Alcohol

Another drink that should not be consumed after a workout is alcohol. The main problem is that it slows down the recovery process by inhibiting the functions of hormones that are usually involved in this. Alcohol reduces the production of the male hormone testosterone and protein synthesis, which prevents muscle building. But the production of estrogen, which is responsible for body fat, on the contrary, increases. Training stimulates the production of the enzyme lipoprotein lipase, which helps break down fats. But only 40 g of strong alcohol almost completely inhibit the production of this enzyme. Add to this the increased appetite that alcohol causes, and you will realize that drinking alcohol not only nullifies training, but also brings significant harm.

3. Carbonated drinks

Sweet carbonated drinks, as well as sports drinks, contain a large amount of sugar. What harm does sugar do to the body, we already wrote above. Also, sweet carbonated drinks are bad for the heart. Sometimes phosphoric acid can be used in carbonated waters. You can usually find it in cheap sodas. If you don’t want to wash your calcium out of your body, increase bone fragility and worsen your health, give up such a drink.

Many people like to drink mineral sparkling water, it seems to be tastier than usual. It all depends on the physical activity and the reaction of your body. Due to the carbon dioxide content, carbonated water can cause belching, flatulence, or bloating. Also, due to the presence of gas, it takes up more space in the stomach compared to ordinary water. After class, you can drink soda if your body normally tolerates these types of drinks. Out of habit, it is necessary to consume a new kind of liquids in small quantities, monitoring the reaction of the digestive system.

4. Packaged juice

The harm of packaged juice can be compared with carbonated sweet drinks. A glass of reconstituted orange juice contains as much as 5 tsp. Sahara. With regular use of such a product, the risk of developing diabetes increases several times. In addition, packaged juices do not contain the vitamins and healthy fibers found in fruits. The nutritional value fruits are lost when they are juiced, and you end up consuming pure sugar in the form of fructose. Many manufacturers do not skimp on adding various stabilizers and aromatic components to the juice in order to embellish the taste of the concentrate from which the drink is made.

5. Coffee

Much is said about the benefits of coffee: this drink increases energy levels, gives vigor, restores strength. Coffee accelerates the removal of lactic acid from muscle tissue. It is this acid that causes pulling pains in the muscles after training. Caffeine can partially remove this effect. This is the positive side of coffee. But, in addition to the benefits, consuming caffeine after a workout can also bring harm. Caffeine makes it difficult to reload glycogen in the muscles and liver and take protein for muscle recovery. In addition, caffeine has a stimulating effect on the cardiovascular and nervous system. After training, the whole body is in good shape. Therefore, additional stimulation of the body with caffeine increases the load on the entire body as a whole. This can be dangerous, especially if you have problems with the cardiovascular system.

Chocolate is loved by both young athletes and adults. How to choose, store and consume a treat so that it benefits the athlete - we will analyze in this article.

Types of chocolate

• Bitter chocolate is considered the standard. It consists of grated cocoa, cocoa butter, sugar (powdered sugar). Standards are prescribed in GOST: the total dry residue of cocoa products is at least 55%, cocoa butter - 33%.
• Milk chocolate. For its production, additionally powdered milk or cream is used. The taste of the product depends on their content. Due to the increased fat content, milk chocolate is less healthy than dark chocolate.
• White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, vanillin, milk powder, sugar. Tastes like caramel. A child may wonder why chocolate is white. Everything is very simple, it does not contain cocoa powder, which gives color to chocolate.
• Aerated chocolate is made from dessert chocolate mass. Forms with the prepared mass are placed in vacuum boilers. The air bubbles expand to form the porous structure of the chocolate.

On the shelves of the store you can see big choice chocolate with or without fillers, porous or monolithic tile, with or without filling, of various shapes (medals, figurines, with patterns). And also parents can offer the young athlete liquid or solid chocolate.

The main rule of perfect chocolate: the fewer ingredients, the better.

confectionery tiles

It is important not to confuse chocolate with its imitation - confectionery tiles. We read the label carefully. In the composition are indicated: vegetable fats and cocoa powder or carob (ground carob). Most manufacturers add Palm oil. It is cheaper than cocoa butter, inferior to it in taste, aromatic qualities and is not useful.

Composition of dark chocolate

Nutritional value of the product per 100 g:

• proteins - 6.3 g
• fats - 35.3 g
• carbohydrates - 48.1 g
• dietary fiber - 7.3 g

The energy value of dark chocolate is 500-540 kcal. Glycemic index - 25.

Chocolate is rich in vitamins, microelements, amino acids, antioxidants. There is a lot in chocolate: potassium - 21%; calcium - 7%; magnesium - 44%; phosphorus - 28%, iron - 30% (the numbers indicate the percentage of the mineral in 100 g of dark chocolate from the recommended rate).

The norm of chocolate consumption per day: up to 30 g.

Useful properties of chocolate

What is useful chocolate for young athletes:

1. Improves concentration, performance in training and competition.
2. Increases brain activity. It is useful for a young athlete to take chocolate before or during important competitions.
3. The flavonoids contained in dark chocolate support the normal functioning of the heart and blood vessels.
4. By stimulating the production of endorphins, it improves mood, reduces irritation. But keep in mind that this effect is short-lived.
5. Decreases after strenuous exercise.
6. Strengthens immunity.
7. Chocolate does not destroy tooth enamel. Cocoa butter envelops the teeth, forming a protective film on them.

Choosing chocolate

When buying chocolate, carefully study the label. It must contain:

• Product name;
• marking;
• compound;
• information about the manufacturer (country and address of the manufacturer);
• net weight;
• nutritional value per 100 g of the product (energy value, content of proteins, fats, carbohydrates);
• genetically modified organisms (when GMOs are exceeded above the established norm);
• GOST number (if the chocolate is made according to the standard);
• date of manufacture;
• best before date;
• storage conditions;
• for products containing more than 20% fat, the mass fraction of saturated fatty acids is indicated.

Opening the wrapper

Chocolate is prepared in accordance with GOST 31721-2012. The right chocolate has a hard surface, while it can be shiny and matte, even and wavy, with or without a pattern. Particular attention is paid to the structure. Regardless of the fillers (raisins, nuts, puffed rice), it should be homogeneous.

Marriage does not include grains, scratches, chips on the surface of chocolate

We store chocolate

On natural chocolate, if stored improperly, a whitish coating forms. It doesn't do any harm. Interesting fact that you will not see a raid on a confectionery tile.

Chocolate has no place in the refrigerator and next to odorous substances. And of course he doesn't like straight lines. Sun rays and high temperature.

Chocolate or confectionery bar

How to distinguish real chocolate from a confectionery bar?

Confectionery tiles do not have useful properties and is used to satisfy the taste needs of the body. We buy dark chocolate for a young athlete. But it is very difficult to distinguish two products from each other in appearance. Brown color, surfaces shine, break loudly. Therefore, before buying a product, you must carefully read the label. At home, you can easily distinguish imitation from real chocolate by smell and taste.

Since the melting point of cocoa butter is 33 degrees, this allows the chocolate to melt in your mouth. Vegetable fats melt at 38-40 degrees, so you won’t feel such an effect when using confectionery tiles, like chocolate. Confectionery tiles stick to the teeth and take longer to chew.

Conclusion

There are no reasons for refusing to use chocolate by a young athlete. It is only necessary to observe the daily rate, no more than 20-30 g. Avoid eating chocolate in the evening, as it contains caffeine. And even after intensive training, dark chocolate will not harm the young athlete.

Dear readers, if you see an error in our article, write to us about it in the comments. We will definitely fix it. Thank you!

There are too many great foods in the world that are hard to give up in favor of healthy eating. For many, goodies are the most important thing in life, including chocolate.

Some people occasionally stick to proper nutrition and temporarily lose weight, but eventually return to their original weight due to sugar cravings.

It's hard to believe, but dark chocolate, unlike other confectionery products, can even help you lose weight. But how is this possible?

The power of epicatechin

Dark chocolate contains a magical ingredient called epicatechin. It's natural chemical compound belongs to the group of flavonoids and is found in high concentrations in cocoa beans. Flavonoids improve health and performance. The darker the chocolate and the less processed it is, the more flavonoids it contains.

As for milk chocolate, it mostly consists of sugar, so it does not have the beneficial properties inherent in dark chocolate.

Recently, experts have been actively studying the effects of epicatechin on health. Studies have found that it is a powerful antioxidant and may reduce the risk of stroke, cancer, and certain metabolic diseases such as diabetes.

A researcher at Harvard Medical School found that Kuna Indians living in Panama have little to no cardiovascular disease due to their regular consumption of cocoa-based drinks.

In addition to being found in dark chocolate, flavonoids are available as a dietary supplement.

Let's talk more about the benefits of flavonoids for the body.

Increased blood flow and nitric oxide synthesis

Long endurance workouts are not for everyone. Nevertheless, we all need to be active in order to keep the body in good shape. If you like to exercise, then you can treat yourself to chocolate!

Epicatechin stimulates vasodilation, or dilation of blood vessels. As a result, blood circulation is activated, pressure decreases and sports performance improves. Thus, by including dark chocolate in your diet, you will get the most out of your workouts.

In addition, flavonoids increase the level of nitric oxide in the blood, inhibiting the activity of enzymes that destroy them.

Nitric oxide is useful for an athlete in that it stimulates the formation of satellite cells that restore damaged muscle fibers after intense training.

The importance of this process increases as the body ages, as the body produces fewer satellite cells as we age, which means that muscle tears take longer to heal.

Dark chocolate has one more property that will surely interest adults with a sweet tooth: flavonoids act on the body like Viagra!

Strengthening muscles and accelerating mass gain

Muscle growth is regulated by a peptide called myostatinin. It limits the growth of muscle tissue to prevent hypertrophy (overdevelopment of an organ). By suppressing the action of myostanin, it is possible to significantly accelerate the set of muscle mass, however, artificial drugs with such an effect do not yet exist.

Often in pursuit rapid growth muscle athletes use anabolic steroids, but their abuse can result in serious hormonal disorders.

Myostatin has an antagonist, follistanin. It interrupts the signals that myostanin gives nervous system. These two regulatory proteins interact to achieve homeostasis (internal balance). As a result, muscles grow, but more slowly than athletes want.

According to a recent study, flavonoids stimulate the synthesis of follistatin, as a result of which the resistance of myostatin weakens naturally, without the use of anabolic steroids.

Regulation of blood glucose levels

Insulin is one of the key hormones if we are talking about gaining muscle mass or burning fat. It displaces glucose from the bloodstream and triggers protein synthesis in muscle cells.

Constantly elevated level insulin in the blood provokes insulin resistance, and the hormone loses its regulatory properties. This can lead to a range of serious diseases such as diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Epicatechin increases insulin sensitivity and helps the hormone lower blood glucose levels. In turn, the proper functioning of insulin provides the athlete with rapid recovery and weight gain.

Stamina increase

This property of flavonoids requires additional confirmation, as it was revealed during experiments on animals. In particular, an experiment conducted by scientists from The Journal of Physiology showed that a daily dose of epicatechin significantly increased the endurance of rats.

Animals coped with more intense physical activity and remained active longer. In addition, the rats showed increased endurance even without exercise, as long as they continued to be supplemented with flavonoids.