How to Choose Chocolates🍫?

Chocolate has always been deemed as an unhealthy snack. However recently there are more studies stating the health benefits that chocolates provide. How should we eat chocolates and how to choose the healthiest among the many options?

Health Benefits

Studies have found that the nutritional value of chocolate mainly comes from antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids. It has anti-inflammation properties and helps lower blood pressure and increase insulin sensitivity. It can also improve mood and prevent dementia. In addition, it is also rich in minerals such as iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans. The darker the chocolate, the higher the proportion of cocoa. For example, 85% dark chocolate contains 85% of cocoa, which is more than 70% dark chocolate. Cocoa beans contain about half and half of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. The antioxidant content is mostly stored in cocoa solids, while cocoa butter has significantly lower nutritional value. Dark chocolate contains more cocoa solids than milk chocolate, while white chocolate contains only cocoa butter and no cocoa solids at all. So nutritional value: dark chocolate > milk chocolate > white chocolate.

Health Risks

Although dark chocolate can be beneficial, many people misunderstand that it is not high in calories because of its low sweetness. In fact, even dark chocolate is high in calories, so you should not eat too much. Otherwise the health risks brought by obesity can even be more detrimental. It is recommended to only eat a maximum of 20-30 grams per day, and observe any weight change at the same time. If there is a significant increase, reduce the frequency of eating instead.

How to Choose Chocolates?

Reference:

1. Samanta S, Sarkar T, Chakraborty R, et al. Dark chocolate: An overview of its biological activity, processing, and fortification approaches. Curr Res Food Sci. 2022;5:1916-1943. Published 2022 Oct 15. doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2022.10.017
2. Shin JH, Kim CS, Cha L, et al. Consumption of 85% cocoa dark chocolate improves mood in association with gut microbial changes in healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial. J Nutr Biochem. 2022;99:108854. doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2021.108854
3. USDA Nutrient Database, Gu et al. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2006