After reading several articles on microbes, I'm starting to wonder if there is anything microbes can't do. Whether you're a dark chocolate lover or not - taking your daily dose of the chocolatey goodness may be worth it in the long run. It's been known for some time that dark chocolate can actually be good for you; some of the benefits provided by the cocoa in dark chocolate includes improvement in vascular function and increased insulin sensitivity. Daily consumption can do as much as reduce cholesterol by a median of two points. Luckily, I am one of the dark chocolate lovers and the article, "Why is Dark Chocolate Good for You? Thank Your Microbes" by Katherine Harmon Courage caught my eye. "Cocoa is good for your heart because of fermentation by gut bacteria, creating anti-inflammatory compounds that improve blood vessel function," says Courage. This sentence basically sums up the newly discovered relationship between the cocoa in dark chocolate and our gut microbes.
Leading some of the experiments for this research is John Finley, a professor of food sciences at Louisiana State University. Finley and students conducted a study that simulated the human gut by making an artificial digestive system. With this "fake" digestive system Finley was able to see the process of chocolate through the human gut. At the end of the experiment it was found that, "They [microbes] fermented these compounds—flavonols that include catechin and epicatechin, which are also found in green tea—into smaller anti-inflammatories that could be absorbed into the bloodstream."
Researchers interviewed in the article said that there is definitely more research that needs to be done; for now its safe to say that dark chocolate will serve as a sufficient supplement to take. This won't be hard for those of us who are already fans of the cocoa goodness... Feast on dark chocolate lovers!