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Is chocolate good for us? Almost all people want the answer to this to be “yes.” But unfortunately it’s not that simple. What matters most is how much cocoa powder is in it and what other ingredients are added.
Age healthily with cocoa, feel happy and be more productive with it or receive benefits for heart health: the positive effects of chocolate are repeatedly pointed out. But these depend largely on what is in them, as explained in an article by the American Heart Association (AHA).
Cocoa: the basic building block of chocolate
Chocolate actually begins with the cocoa bean, the seed of the fruit of a cocoa tree. It contains fiber and natural compounds with antioxidant properties, so-called phytonutrients.
Fiber is good for the digestive tract and may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers, while antioxidants are thought to help the body resist heart disease, cancer and other diseases.
The cocoa bean is crushed and roasted into cocoa, the basic building block of chocolate.
Possible advantages have been in focus for a long time
The idea that cacao is a key to health is not new. The Mayans and Aztecs believed cacao was a gift from the gods and used it for healing and rituals. Cocoa originally comes from the Amazon region, but is now grown in many regions of the world.
The plant also quickly attracted attention in Europe. The Florentine Codex, written by a Spanish monk in the 16th century and describing life in the New World, was just the first of many accounts that educated Europe about the medicinal benefits of cacao.
More recently, studies have suggested that cocoa consumption may help with heart health factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol, and may improve artery health, vision and brain function.
Large amounts of fat and sugar
So should you quickly reach for a bar of chocolate? Not so fast.
“Hopefully I won’t give an answer that’s too depressing,” says Dr. Deepak L. Bhatt, director of Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital in New York City. “I’m a chocolate lover, but I’m not kidding myself.” He doesn’t eat chocolate to do something good for his health.
The reason is obvious: to turn bitter cocoa powder into delicious, irresistible chocolate, we add sugar and fat.
“That means extra calories and saturated fat,” explains Haley Canada, a registered dietitian at UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California. “That’s why it’s important to stick to portion sizes to prevent weight gain and balance it out with a healthy diet.”
Connections between cocoa and heart health
Of all the research pointing to possible links between cocoa and heart health, Bhatt said he was most influenced by the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study, or COSMOS, a large 2022 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition ” has been published.
In the randomized clinical trial, more than 20,000 older adults received either a cocoa extract capsule or a placebo daily and were then followed for an average of 3.6 years.
The researchers reported that the cocoa extract did not significantly reduce cardiovascular events, but did reduce cardiovascular deaths by 27%. They shared that a longer follow-up is needed to investigate the difference.
“The gold standard in science is randomized placebo trials,” explains Bhatt. This happened in the COSMOS study, which did not show any significant benefit, said Bhatt. There are some signals, but: “I don’t think these signals are enough to say that you should eat cocoa for cardiovascular health.”
“The darker, the better”
But the research will continue. Nutrition experts have long pointed out that up to 50 grams of dark chocolate per day is not a bad thing.
Dark chocolate is preferable to milk chocolate because it contains more cocoa and less sugar – with the same number of calories. By the way, white chocolate does not contain cocoa powder.
“Typically, the darker the better,” says Canada. “At least 70% to ensure you get the benefits.”
Raw cacao or cocoa powder are too bitter to consume alone, but they can be added to other foods to “achieve a chocolaty taste without adding real chocolate,” explains the nutritionist.
Try sprinkling some raw cacao powder on oatmeal or fruit, or adding it to your morning smoothie. “You get the chocolaty flavor and sweetness of the fruit, but no added sugar.”
Want to enjoy a healthier hot cocoa? Canada recommends unsweetened almond milk, cocoa powder and a splash of maple syrup.
It may take some getting used to, she admits, “but there are ways to get creative that don’t involve relying on the packaged hot cocoa mix that contains a lot of sugar.”
Good for mental health
All of this doesn’t mean that chocolate doesn’t promote other types of health.
“To the extent that it helps people feel better,” says Bhatt, “it’s probably a good thing for mental health, but not really for cardiovascular health.” (ad)