Is Dark Chocolate Healthy For You?

When it comes to sweet treats, it is difficult to find options that provide health and nutrition benefits. For a candy that satisfies your sweet tooth while offering fiber, iron and antioxidants, try dark chocolate. The darker and less processed the chocolate you consume, the more benefits you get. The dark chocolate in your diet is relatively healthy for most people, but take care to eat it in moderation.

Basic Nutrition

A 40-g serving, or approximately 1.4 oz., of 59 percent dark chocolate contains 190 calories. This serving of chocolate also has 14 g of fat, much of which derives from 9 g of saturated fat. Saturated fat contributes to your risk of heart disease, including stroke and heart attack, so limit your intake to 15 g or less per day. Dark chocolate has 21 g of carbohydrates, as well as 3 g of fiber.

Dental Risks

Dark chocolate contains quite a bit of sugar, which can harm your teeth if you do not limit your consumption of this treat and practice good dental hygiene. Each serving contains 16 g of sugar; the American Heart Association recommends limiting your intake of sugar -- 25.2 g per day for women and 37.8 g daily for men. In addition to adding only small amounts of dark chocolate to your diet, brush your teeth after eating to remove the sugar from your teeth.

Mineral Content

Eat a serving of dark chocolate, and you take in 25 percent of the daily recommended intake of iron. There are lower-fat options for getting iron into your diet; however, many people prefer the taste of chocolate to iron-rich foods such as liver and spinach. Despite the fat content, the iron in dark chocolate plays a pivotal role in helping you to ward off anemia, a condition that can leave you tired, dizzy and pale.

Heart Benefits

The antioxidants in dark chocolate provide a range of healthy benefits, and you get more antioxidants from this chocolate than even fruit juice, according to research published in the February 2011 issue of the "Chemistry Central Journal." Antioxidants protect your organs and tissues from cellular damage caused by free radicals -- this damage can lead to heart disease. A study in the November 2007 edition of the journal "Circulation" correlates the antioxidants in dark chocolate to improvements in coronary artery health, particularly in patients who have undergone heart transplants.

Liver Benefits

Antioxidants present in dark chocolate may also help you if you suffer from liver disease. Researchers presented evidence at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver that these antioxidants decreased blood vessel damage in patients with liver problems; this benefit decreases blood pressure in the liver after eating, a dangerous side effect for these patients.