Is chocolate good for your eyes?

Is chocolate good for your eyes?

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, many people are searching for gift ideas for their significant others. If you are one of these people, why not go the healthy, (yes, healthy) route and give them the gift of chocolate?

A study at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom suggests that eating dark chocolate is good for your eyes. In their study, 60 men and women between the ages of 18 and 25, were given regular sized white and dark chocolate bars. A couple of hours after eating the bars, they were given vision tests to see if the chocolate actually improved their vision – and it did! But only the dark chocolate bars seemed to have this effect.

So why does dark chocolate help your eye sight? The reason is similar to why dark chocolate is good for your heart as well. The flavonols, an ingredient that is naturally found in cocoa, in chocolate help promote blood flow throughout the body. The retina requires a lot of energy, so improved blood flow can improve it’s performance.

Another article from Men’s Health states that eating dark chocolate will actually help improve your vision by up to 17% in dark environments.  They also recommend Dove dark chocolate because it contains the largest amount of flavonols.

This year, skip the flowers and give the gift of good vision for Valentine’s Day!  Give your honey some dark chocolate!  But if chocolate is not your thing…. flavanols are also naturally found in grapes, teas, apples, and red wine.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

The Body Odd Article

Men’s Health Article