Hot Flushes & Hot Chocolate

Can Chocolate Actually Help During The Menopause — Or Do We Just Really Want It To?

Ladies, if you’ve been through it or are going through it now, you’ll know that menopause isn’t exactly a walk in the park. Unless the park is on fire, you’re wearing five jumpers, and your emotions are doing the Hokey Cokey without your permission. But amid the hot flushes, restless sleep, and hormonal hijinks, there’s something we can turn to that’s probably sitting quietly in the kitchen cupboard just waiting for us.

Yes, we’re talking about chocolate. That delicious, velvety mouthful of comfort has more to offer than just a momentary pick-me-up. In fact, it may have some surprising benefits when it comes to supporting your body (and your sanity) during menopause. Self-care without the need for guilt? Maybe!

So, put the kettle on, grab a square (or three, or — if it’s me — the whole bar), and let’s unwrap the truth about chocolate and find out whether it really can help.

What Is Menopause?

Menopause is a natural part of ageing that usually happens between the ages of 45 and 55, although it can happen earlier. It occurs as hormone levels change and, technically, you’ve reached menopause when you haven’t had a period for 12 months. The time leading up to that point, when you may already be experiencing symptoms, is known as perimenopause.

As levels of oestrogen and progesterone fluctuate and eventually fall, they can bring with them an almost unbelievable assortment of symptoms. Hot flushes and night sweats are probably the best known, but you may also experience disturbed sleep, headaches, aching muscles and joints, heart palpitations, changes to your skin (I’m now allergic to the sun!) and body shape (nothing fits!), anxiety, mood swings, brain fog, reduced sex drive and recurrent urinary tract infections.

And that’s not even all of them. FFS!

Symptoms vary from one person to another. Some women sail through with relatively little trouble; for others, menopause can make life hell and have a significant effect on everyday life, work and relationships. Symptoms can also continue for years rather than months. Flippin’ awesome, isn’t it?

If you’d like the full rundown — including symptoms, treatments and when to seek medical advice — there’s plenty of information on the NHS website.

Is HRT The Answer?

For me, the overwhelming symptoms were hot and cold flushes (but not night sweats) and a crawling, jittery sensation that made me want to rip my skin off be almost unable to keep still. My blood pressure rocketed too. When I went to my (male) GP for help, he was fairly useless and the ‘expert’ menopause nurse was less informed than I was! Far from helping, the HRT patches

I was prescribed actually made me feel worse — as well as being rather pricey.

In the end, after a lot of research and trial and error, I found a combination of things that worked for me. These included an adrenal support supplement recommended by my chiropractor, oestrogen cream and dancing around my freezing cold flat to burn off the jitters. (Firestarter was on my playlist!)

Obviously, what worked for me won’t necessarily work for anyone else. Menopause is a very individual experience. The one thing I would recommend is finding out as much as you can, talking to a healthcare professional (with better luck than me, I hope) and speaking to other women going through it. Compare notes — everyone seems to have a different experience and a different tip or trick to share.

Get To The Chocolate!

I am, I promise!

There’s plenty written about the supposed health benefits of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate. Cocoa contains minerals and naturally occurring plant compounds that have been linked to a number of health benefits — some of which could be particularly interesting during and after menopause.

But can eating chocolate really make a difference, or is that just what we’d like to believe?

Let’s have a look at what we actually know.

Mood Boosting Magic

Chocolate lovers probably don’t need a scientific study to tell them that eating it can make them feel better. But is there actually any evidence that it’s not just wishful thinking?

Studies have found that cocoa-rich foods may have a positive effect on mood, although the research so far has generally involved relatively small numbers of people over short periods of time.

Interestingly, one study looked specifically at 60 women aged between 40 and 60. After eight weeks, those given a flavanol-rich cocoa drink showed improvements in several measures of mood compared with those given a placebo.

Researchers are still working out exactly why cocoa might affect our mood. It contains flavanols and other compounds that could play a part — and, of course, there’s also the simple pleasure of eating something delicious.

While I’m not suggesting you can treat menopausal mood swings with a family-sized bar of chocolate (damn it!), there is some genuine science behind chocolate’s reputation as a mood booster.

Have A Heart

Looking after your heart becomes particularly important around menopause. Oestrogen helps to protect the heart and blood vessels, so as levels fall, the risk of cardiovascular disease begins to increase. Blood pressure and cholesterol can also creep upwards — just in case we didn’t already have enough to deal with.

This is another area where cocoa may have something

useful to offer. Cocoa is rich in flavanols, which are naturally occurring plant compounds that appear to help blood vessels relax and improve blood flow. Studies have also found that cocoa and dark chocolate can produce small reductions in blood pressure.

There’s some evidence of a modest reduction in LDL — the so-called ‘bad’ cholesterol — too, although the effect appears to be fairly small.

Let’s not be fooled into thinking that chocolate is a treatment for high blood pressure or heart disease — it’s not.

But as part of a balanced diet, a little good-quality dark chocolate may be one of the more enjoyable ways of giving your heart a helping hand.

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones

One more thing to add to our increasingly heavy burden — falling oestrogen levels during and after menopause can accelerate bone loss, increasing the risk of osteoporosis. So looking after our bones becomes increasingly important — whether we like thinking about it or not.

Dark chocolate does contain magnesium, a mineral that plays a role in maintaining healthy bones. However, that doesn’t mean eating chocolate will protect you from menopausal bone loss (damn it, again!). Research into chocolate and bone health is limited and, so far, the results have been mixed.

Sadly, we can’t add “eat more chocolate” to the official osteoporosis prevention advice. Calcium, vitamin D and weight-bearing exercise still have to do most of the heavy lifting (sorry).

But nobody said you couldn’t have the chocolate afterwards.

The Brain Fog On The Tyne’s All Mine!

Brain fog can be one of the more frustrating symptoms of menopause — forgetting why you walked into a room, losing your train of thought halfway through a sentence or discovering that 5 kg bag of sugar is exactly where you’ve already looked for it — twice.

Could chocolate help? Maybe.

Yet more research has been done into those cocoa flavanols — this time on their possible effects on the brain. Some of it has found improvements in certain aspects of memory and cognitive function. However, other studies haven’t found any significant overall benefit, so the jury is still out.

What we can say is that cocoa flavanols appear to have an effect on blood flow, including blood flow to the brain— one reason researchers remain interested in them.

Unfortunately, dark chocolate probably isn’t going to miraculously retrieve the name of that bloke off that TV programme —you know, the one that used to be in that Police series, wears glasses — that was on the tip of your tongue a minute ago. But there’s enough going on in cocoa to make the research worth watching.

Chocolate In Bed?

Sleep can be a nightmare during menopause. Getting to sleep, staying asleep and waking up feeling as though you’ve actually been asleep can all become more difficult — and night sweats, if you’re unlucky enough to have them, certainly don’t help.

Sadly, chocolate doesn’t seem to be the answer to this one either. A recent study of menopausal women found that eating dark chocolate every day didn’t significantly improve sleep quality.

There’s another reason to be wary of a late-night chocolate fix — apart from getting the stains out of the duvet. Cocoa naturally contains caffeine and theobromine, both of which can have a stimulating effect. If you’re particularly sensitive to caffeine, eating dark chocolate close to bedtime may be more likely to keep you awake than send you off to sleep.

That doesn’t mean you have to give it up — oh dear me, no! If you suspect chocolate is interfering with your sleep, just enjoy it earlier in the day instead.

Which Chocolate Is Best?

If you’re eating chocolate because you want the potential benefits of cocoa, dark chocolate is the obvious choice. The higher the cocoa content, the more cocoa solids — and therefore the more flavanols — you’re likely to be getting.

A dark chocolate containing around 70% cocoa solids is a good place to start. Go much higher and you’ll generally get less sugar and more cocoa, although whether you actually enjoy eating 90% or 100% chocolate is another matter entirely!

Milk chocolate contains less cocoa and more sugar, so it won’t give you the same concentration of cocoa flavanols.

White chocolate contains cocoa butter but no cocoa solids, so although I’ll happily defend its right to call itself chocolate (see my white chocolate blog), it isn’t going to offer the same potential benefits either.

That doesn’t mean milk and white chocolate suddenly belong in the sin bin. If you love them, eat them and enjoy them. But if you’re specifically looking for the things we’ve been talking about in this blog, dark chocolate is the one to choose.

As for what to avoid, there’s really no need for a terrifying list of forbidden ingredients. The main thing is not to mistake chocolate for medicine. However dark it is, it still contains fat and usually sugar, so quantity matters as much as cocoa percentage.

In other words: choose good chocolate, enjoy it, and don’t kid yourself that eating half a kilo of 70% makes it a health food. Damn it!

Stop And Smell The Flowers — And The Chocolate

Mindfulness almost feels a bit cliched these days but there is something to be said for paying attention to your chocolate while you eat it.

Instead of demolishing a bar while scrolling through your phone, try slowing down and letting a piece melt in your mouth. Notice the texture, the flavour and how it changes as it melts. Good chocolate can have all sorts of different notes — fruity, nutty, floral, spicy, caramel-like — and you’ll notice far more of them if you take your time.

You may also find that eating chocolate slowly makes a small amount feel far more satisfying than eating it absent-mindedly — especially if it’s intense dark chocolate.

There’s no need to sit cross-legged, burning incense and listening to whale music. Just eat the chocolate. No guilt — just pleasure.

World Menopause Day

World Menopause Day takes place on 18th October each year and is intended to raise awareness, improve understanding and encourage more open conversations about menopause.

Given how many women still find themselves struggling to get useful information or support, that can only be a good thing.

So whether you mark the day by sharing your experience, talking to someone else about theirs or simply eating some very good chocolate, I’m all for it.

So, Is Chocolate Good for Menopause?

Well... sort of.

Chocolate isn’t going to cure hot flushes, rebuild your bones, fix your sleep or magically retrieve the word that disappeared from your brain five minutes ago.

But cocoa — particularly dark chocolate with a high cocoa content — does contain flavanols and other compounds that may have some useful effects on mood, blood flow and heart health. The research is still developing, and some of the claims made for chocolate are considerably more enthusiastic than the evidence.

What we do know is that good chocolate tastes wonderful, gives us pleasure and can absolutely be part of a balanced diet.

One bar in each hand counts as balance, right?

P.S. Got a favourite brand of dark chocolate (you mean it’s not Truffle Witch?!) or a go-to chocolate ritual? Share it in the comments! Let’s build a menopause community one delicious bite at a time.