Chocolate for gastritis

At the word "chocolate" many people start drooling, as if they saw a lemon. Surely the vast majority like this delicacy and everyone eats it without thinking much about the benefits, harm or possible contraindications. However, in some cases, chocolate becomes a forbidden dessert. Chocolate for gastritis is exactly from this category of products. Why?

Is it possible to eat chocolate if you have gastritis?

One of the causes of gastritis is poor nutrition. Irregular, spicy, dry food, strong alcohol put the stomach to the test "for strength", which is why the irritated mucous membrane often responds with a "rebellion", that is, inflammation. And how does chocolate work for gastritis?

Acute gastritis develops quickly, is accompanied by sharp pains, and is treated in about a week. During this period, it is even incorrect to ask whether chocolate is allowed with gastritis. Sweets are considered a heavy product, and even a small portion can increase pain, cause vomiting and nausea in the patient, and worsen the situation as a whole.

• Unfortunately for dessert lovers, chocolate is also not recommended for gastritis outside of an exacerbation. It causes increased production of gastric juice and irritates the walls even more. This is especially dangerous with high acidity.

If gastritis is not cured, it becomes chronic. Cocoa butter and caffeine, as well as sugar, which chocolate sweets are rich in, are harmful products for inflamed digestive organs: they can cause an exacerbation of the process. This applies to all types of chocolate, including white.

The maximum that is allowed during long-term remission is a slice or two from a whole bar. It should be introduced into the menu very carefully, literally little by little. Chocolate candies are even worse in terms of harm, because they contain various fillings that are not perceived by the affected stomach.

Chocolate for gastritis with high acidity

There is no optimal choice of chocolate for gastritis with high acidity. The main criteria for such a choice are minimum fat content, caffeine, absence of acids and dairy ingredients. During the recovery period, other sweets are more suitable for the stomach: marmalade, baklava, Turkish delight, toffee, honey, jam. All in small doses.

• Chocolate is not included in the diet for gastritis.

This is a product of processing cocoa beans, with the addition of various ingredients - raisins, nuts, wafer crumbs, dried fruits. For a sick stomach, this is an extra burden. Caffeine and theobromine have a particularly unfavorable effect: they stimulate appetite and the secretion of gastric juice, which is already in excess and strongly irritates its walls.

• I would like to debunk some myths about the harm of chocolate, for example, for teeth.

It is known that sweets are an excellent breeding ground for oral bacteria. And if you eat something sweet before bed and are too lazy to brush your teeth, then caries is guaranteed. However, chocolate can be different, the same dark chocolate is not very sweet, so the connection between dark chocolate and blackened teeth is questionable. The reason is most likely in improper oral hygiene or an unbalanced diet.

In addition, a moderate dose of the delicacy, in the absence of contraindications, can reduce the risk of heart disease, prevent diabetes, and prevent depression. Half a bar of chocolate a day increases performance and mood, stimulates mental activity, and stabilizes blood pressure. Finally, the product acts as a quality aphrodisiac.

Dark chocolate for gastritis

Dark chocolate is considered the healthiest. The sweet product is not only healthy, but also has medicinal properties. It contains a maximum of cocoa mass (50+%) and a minimum of sugar. High quality can be determined organoleptically: such a bar shines beautifully and smells nice.

The benefits of dark chocolate are varied and include the following:

• activation of brain activity;
• replenishment of energy reserves;
• pressure optimization;
• fat burning;
• lowering cholesterol;
• normalization of heart function;
• strengthening bone tissue.

Chocolate is an aphrodisiac. It promotes the production of the hormone of happiness, that is, it improves well-being and mood, and combats depression.

Unfortunately, the harm of chocolate in gastritis exceeds the benefit, so nutritionists have decisively excluded it from the gastritis diet. During an exacerbation of inflammation, not only chocolate, but also other fatty sweets are undesirable, because they cause repeated attacks of pain and vomiting.

If you can't resist and nothing in life brings you joy, you can allow yourself a little dark chocolate for gastritis - if there is a stable remission and the patient feels well. This should be a really minimal portion: just 1-2 pieces from a whole bar.

Milk chocolate for gastritis

Milk chocolate is considered the most unsuitable for gastritis. It contains all the harmful components: cocoa butter and powder, sugar, high-fat dry milk. Therefore, all its vaunted properties, useful for a healthy person, are reduced to nothing in comparison with the potential or real harm of chocolate consumed with gastritis.

• Milk varieties are made using milk fats and sugar. Cocoa in such products is up to 40%.

A healthy person is allowed to eat up to 50 g of the delicacy, with gastritis, in the remission stage, - up to 2 pieces of the bar. It is important to monitor the body's reaction: if belching, heartburn, nausea appear, it means that the stomach does not accept sweets of this kind.

• Milk chocolate provokes increased production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach. This is how the caffeine contained in the product acts. This effect is especially dangerous in the hyperacid form of gastritis.

Fatty cocoa butter is also not a diet food. A sick stomach has difficulty digesting fats, and this leads to an exacerbation of the process.

Additives and fillers, which manufacturers traditionally add to chocolate products, are unacceptable for an inflamed organ. There is no doubt that it is very tasty, and such products look aesthetically pleasing and festive. However, the harsh reality reminds us of the harm of all these flavors, colorants, flavor enhancers and other chemicals that can undermine the health of everyone who abuses sweets.

White chocolate for gastritis

Among several varieties, white chocolate for gastritis seems the most harmless. After all, it does not contain the main component that makes chocolate chocolate, and not just one of the sweet desserts. White bars are deprived of not only the characteristic chocolate look: they do not contain caffeine, which makes chocolate harmful for gastritis.

• However, the white delicacy has plenty of other disadvantages, due to which the product is excluded from the diet of patients with digestive problems. These disadvantages are high calorie content and abundance of vegetable oils.

It is not for nothing that white chocolate is the sweetest and most caloric. But still, if it is impossible to give up chocolate once and for all, then you can occasionally allow yourself to take a small portion of the white variety. It acts more gently on an unhealthy stomach than milk, especially with the addition of nuts or alcoholic ingredients. The permissible dose is up to two squares of a standard chocolate bar.

• It is interesting that the white variety of the most popular confectionery product appeared not so long ago: less than 100 years ago.

It does not contain grated or cocoa powder, and the characteristic taste is given by cocoa butter. In cheap varieties, instead of natural ingredients, manufacturers mix in flavoring and aroma additives. In the absence of cocoa, there is no theobromine and caffeine, which have a tonic effect. Chocolate lovers who are harmful to these substances are happy to replace traditional bars with white ones. Unfortunately, this alternative is not suitable for people with gastritis.

Dark chocolate for gastritis

Depending on the composition, chocolate is divided into dark, white, milk. Modern manufacturers have created recipes for porous and mixed varieties that combine contrasting colors, as well as products for diabetic and vegan purposes. All sorts of fillers and additives can be written about separately, but this is not the topic of this article.

• Not all people distinguish between dark and black varieties, and in the context of chocolate for gastritis, this is important. They are identified by the amount of cocoa: in dark it is up to 40%, in black - over 50%.

It is the high content of the main ingredient and a slightly lower content of sugar that gives the characteristic bitter taste and makes the natural product the most useful.

Black varieties have a minimum of sugar and no dry milk, but a high percentage of cocoa, and therefore caffeine. And the stomach does not like this substance. Even hot chocolate is not suitable. The only possible option is to eat just one or two pieces, exclusively during a period of stable remission. You should choose a quality product of well-known brands.

• If the eyes want it, but the stomach resists and reacts with discomfort, then even such a minimal relaxation of the diet should not be allowed.

Dark chocolate for gastritis and other stomach pathologies is best replaced with permitted sweets. These include pastilles, marshmallows, marmalade, jams, jellies, caramel. If possible, they are prepared at home, from natural ingredients.

Benefits

Chocolate has come a long way historically: from the land of the Aztecs on the American continent to every European country and from an expensive elite drink to a generally available solid confectionery product. The bars we are accustomed to appeared in England and France around the middle of the 19th century.

Flavonols and methylxanthines are the most active components of cocoa. Flavonols are polyphenolic structures that in cocoa include catechin and its derivatives, as well as procyanidins B2, B3, and C1. Recent interest in these compounds is related to their antioxidant properties. [ 1 ]

Among the many health-promoting effects proposed for antioxidants, anti-inflammatory actions appear promising. [ 2 ] In fact, flavonols inhibit lipid peroxidation and influence the production of lipids or lipid-derived molecules that regulate the immune response, and dietary cocoa has recently been shown to reduce obesity-related inflammation in high-fat mice. [ 3 ] Chocolate alters gut flora in a similar way to prebiotics and probiotics. [ 4 ]

A 100-calorie serving of dark chocolate (70–85% cocoa) contains 1.7 g of fiber, while semisweet chocolate and milk chocolate contain 1.2 g and 0.6 g per 100 kcal, respectively. Their consumption improves the LDL:HDL ratio.[ 5 ]

Although the lipid content of chocolate is relatively high, one-third of the lipids in cocoa butter are stearic acid (18:0), which is considered nonatherogenic and has a neutral cholesterolemic response in humans.[ 6 ]

Dark chocolate (70%–85% cocoa) contains 36 mg of magnesium per 100 kcal serving, which is 9% of the US Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for middle-aged men, more than three times the amount provided by milk chocolate. Magnesium is a cofactor in protein synthesis, muscle relaxation, and energy production. Magnesium is an antiarrhythmic and hypotensive agent.

Chocolate is an important source of copper; milk chocolate provides 10% of the U.S. recommended daily intake of copper per 100-calorie serving, while dark chocolate provides 31% and cocoa powder 23% per tablespoon.

• However, chocolate is completely inappropriate for gastritis, for the reason that it causes heartburn, nausea, and the progression of pathological processes in the digestive organs.

Chocolate increases immunity, prevents tooth decay, slows down aging, and activates brain activity. A product that contains 50 percent or more cocoa can stop a lingering cough. Theobromine, which cocoa beans are rich in, is responsible for this.

Regular consumption of sweets reduces the risk of atrial fibrillation, relieves sore throat, improves blood supply to the brain and retina. Due to this, there is a temporary improvement in vision.

Chocolate neutralizes free radicals and maintains youth. An entire cosmetology trend is built on this property – salons offer chocolate mask and wrap procedures, actively combat cellulite. Finally, the taste and aroma of the dessert always evokes positive emotions, invigorates, improves mood and the functioning of the nervous system.

Contraindications

Chocolate has properties that are undesirable for people with excess weight. This is an abundance of fat and high calorie content: a 100g bar contains more than 500 kcal. It can cause a reaction in people prone to allergies. And even addiction - if you "get hooked" so much as to eat half a kilo of sweets per day. This problem is more relevant for children. Contraindications concern precisely these categories of people.

• Chocolate is harmful for gastritis because of caffeine. I consider this component to be especially dangerous for men: it can cause prostate enlargement.

An alternative to chocolate is non-aggressive, less fatty and sweet sweets: toffees, caramel candies, marshmallows, jelly, marmalade, pastilles, jams and honey in minimal quantities. Diabetic and cheap products with trans fats cannot be considered a worthy substitute. Intemperance in this matter threatens unpleasant and dangerous consequences.

Possible risks

A quality product in moderate quantities does not allow possible complications in healthy people. However, there are products that instead of cocoa butter are full of palm or coconut fats. Such a product can unbalance the hormonal system, provoke excess weight, atherosclerosis and other problems.

• Chocolate with gastritis causes nausea, heartburn, belching, pain and other unpleasant symptoms from the digestive organs.

Complications in the form of allergic reactions are possible. If alarming symptoms appear, you should stop eating the treat. Rarely, but addiction can develop - due to the fact that the product has an effect similar to a narcotic.

With digestive problems, a person has to deny himself many habits. Favorite sweets: pastries, candies, chocolate with gastritis and pancreatitis are unhealthy products, so they disappear from the diet, some temporarily, and some forever. But there is good news: you can always find a sweet alternative. In our case, these are non-chocolate desserts: jelly, pastille, marmalade, toffee, caramel or honey.