Live longer and smile while extending your longevity thanks to dark chocolates and red wine. Yes, these actually can contribute in adding probably a few years to your timeline. Who would have thought that these comfort food and beverage have some health benefits to the body?

Fun fact: one piece of dark chocolate a day can benefit your heart and arteries. Dark chocolate has more antioxidant content compared to other kinds of chocolates. It lowers the blood pressure but you have to make sure that you balance the other calories by eating less of other things. Bear in mind that it should be moderate nibbling on the chocolate.

Being a potent anti-oxidant, it eats up and cleans up free radicals – the destructive molecules that are responsible for heart diseases and other ailments. To be exact, plant phenols is robust in dark chocolates. These compounds are really known for lowering down the blood pressure.

Chocolates from Europe are richer in cocoa phenols compares to US chocolates so nibble on these chocolates moderately. Don’t think though that since dark chocolate has its benefits that you can replace other health foods with chocolates.

Another obvious health benefit of this top comfort food is it makes you happy. The reason behind that is chocolates actually release endorphins that can really improve your mood and make you all sunny and cheerful.

Eat that dark chocolate with a glass of wine too. A glass of red wine a day also helps in keeping your heart healthy. Like dark chocolates, red wine also has an anti-oxidant component called polyphenols that help maintain the elasticity of the artery walls that keeps the heart smiling and it slows down aging too. A great alternative for red wine are red grapes. It also prevents the beginning and development of atherosclerosis or the hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis starts when blood vessels begin to lose their ability to relax. Both the alcohol and polyphenols in the red wine appear to satisfactorily maintain healthy blood vessels by promoting the formation of nitric oxide (NO), the key chemical relaxing factor that plays an important role in the regulation of vascular tone.

Red wine, with or without alcohol, lowers down the harmful effect of smoking on the endothelium – layer of cells that provide a friction-reducing lining in lymph vessels, blood vessels, and the heart. It also lowers down the risk of kidney stone formation.

These are just some of the healthy benefits of dark chocolate and red wine. So indulge moderately so you and your heart can continue smiling.