{"id":7611,"date":"2019-07-22T08:10:02","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"\/blog\/?p=7611"},"modified":"2019-08-15T10:05:57","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T14:05:57","slug":"chocolate-for-skin-health-yes-sir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=7611","title":{"rendered":"Chocolate For Skin Health? Yes Sir!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"ChocolateThose of you who know me saw this coming from a mile away. Hmmm, wonder what the number one good-for-your-skin food is going to be?? It turns out that the cocoa in the chocolate that you love to love can also protect your skin from UV damage from the sun.<\/div>\n
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In a\u00a0study in London<\/a>, researchers gave two very happy subject groups chocolate to eat for 12 weeks. However, one of them received a high\u2013flavanol chocolate, such as you might get with a high-cocoa chocolate.\u00a0The second received a low-flavanol chocolate, such as you might get with lighter milk chocolates and \u201cchocolate\u201d confections. After 12 weeks, they tested the skin of these participants with a challenge of UV light to see whether the cocoa flavanols did anything more that make the subjects happy every day.<\/div>\n
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Over the 12 weeks of chocolate eating, the skin of those who ate the low-flavanol version was no more or less protected from UV radiation.<\/div>\n
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No change.<\/div>\n
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However, those who ate the high-flavanol chocolate doubled their protection compared to the baseline.\u00a0In other words, after less than 2 weeks of eating high-flavanol chocolate, subjects\u2019 skin was protected from burning even at twice the UV level. Why would this be? What explanation can make that make sense?<\/div>\n
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Why would this be? What could be going on physiologically that could explain the outcome? One rationale come from the fact that high-cocoa chocolate can increase microcirculation into the skin itself<\/a>.<\/div>\n
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Increased blood flow to the topmost layers of the skin (those within only 1 millimeter of the surface) can provide the healthy oxygenation your skin needs to help protect itself.<\/div>\n
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Another potential route to skin protection could be the particular polyphenols (catechins and epicatechins) themselves. These specific antioxidants are also found in high concentrations in drinks like green tea, which have a\u00a0well established effect<\/a>\u00a0on suppressing the effects of photoaging, UV-induced radiation, immunosuppression, and carcinogenic activity.<\/div>\n

The precise biochemical blah bitty blah is less important for most people than learning that high cocoa chocolate is amazing for your heart, your mind, and now even your skin. In fact, you should treat it like your daily vitamin (vitamin Ch)!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Those of you who know me saw this coming from a mile away. Hmmm, wonder what the number one good-for-your-skin food is going to be?? It turns out that the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[494,537],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-the-olive-july"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Chocolate-Chunks.jpg?fit=1225%2C856&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-1YL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1867,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1867","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":0},"title":"The Internal SPF. The Top 5 Countdown of Best Foods. Number 1.","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 8, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Those of you who know me saw this coming from a mile away. Hmmm, wonder what the number one food is going to be?? It turns out that the cocoa in the chocolate that you love to love can also protect your skin from UV damage from the sun. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/chocolate-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1878,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1878","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":1},"title":"Chocolate Countdown, Number 3 Reason To Eat Chocolate That You Never Saw Coming","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 24, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It Protects Your Skin. Who saw that coming?\u00a0\u00a0Follow @willclowerMy dad used to harass my sister about her skin, when she was an annoying adolescent. \u201cYou know, the reason you\u2019re having to pop those zits on our bathroom mirror in the first place is because you eat chocolate. Where do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/chocolate2Bon2Bskin2Bof2Bface.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5736,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=5736","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":2},"title":"Chocolate Week Makes Your Skin Younger","author":"Will Clower","date":"January 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"No, no, no, you don't smear it on the outside -- people do the strangest things sometimes -- you eat it!! Research data show that consistent consumption of high cocoa chocolate protects your skin against UV damage from the sun. It's like an internal SPF! Even better, the polyphenols found\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Activity"","block_context":{"text":"Activity","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=528"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Chocolate-on-the-Face-300x171.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1854","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":3},"title":"“Cocoa improves men’s vascular stiffness.” Wait, whaaaaaat?","author":"Will Clower","date":"January 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What kind of article is this? Lemmie splain.\u00a0First of all, cocoa doesn't come in little blue pills, this DOES have important medical relevance, and if the effect lasts for more than 4 hours it's actually a good thing.\u00a0Follow @willclowerHere's the Science-to-English translation of\u00a0this article.\u00a0The flavanol antioxidants in cocoa help keep\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Hemorrhagic-Stroke-228x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1879,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1879","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":4},"title":"Chocolate Countdown, Number 4 Reason To Eat Chocolate That You Never Saw Coming","author":"Will Clower","date":"June 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"It can help boost your metabolism. Sounds like hype, but plow on brave reader.Follow @willclowerBut first, let\u2019s just make sure you\u2019re tethered to reality. Chocolate, even the high-cocoa kind that you should be eating, will not make you fit. Sorry. You can\u2019t poke down a bar of 70% dark chocolate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/time2Bfor2Ba2Bboost2Bclock.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6959,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=6959","url_meta":{"origin":7611,"position":5},"title":"Effect of High Cocoa Chocolate on Energy Levels","author":"Will Clower","date":"April 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"During the month of April, we will explore all the ways you can increase your energy levels. How Chocolate Boosts Your Energy -- from my book, \"Eat Chocolate Lose Weight\" (Rodale) Chocolate can increase your energy levels through the specific kind of antioxidants most abundant in cocoa: catechins and epicatechins.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"Schematic of a man with Chocolate plugged into the Brain","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chocolate-Plugged-Into-Brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chocolate-Plugged-Into-Brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chocolate-Plugged-Into-Brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chocolate-Plugged-Into-Brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chocolate-Plugged-Into-Brain.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7611"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7664,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7611\/revisions\/7664"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}