Dark Chocolate: are we getting away with something?

Your doctor wants you to eat...chocolate?

I know what you're thinking. "Does chocolate really belong with all these other healing foods?  I've heard him touting the delights of tofu, and beans, and vegetables, and fish... there must have been some mistake."

But no, for you chocolate fans, it's your lucky day. With a slight catch. Let me explain. 

Chocolate is actually a very imprecise name, for any number of blended foods that contain some amount of cocoa (produced from cacao beans). And yes, the "a" and the "o" are reversed depending on whether you are talking about the beans or the solid extract from the beans. Actually in the case of "white chocolate" the only ingredient from the cacao bean is the fat (cocoa butter) that was pressed out of it, so it's not really chocolate in my view, just fat and sugar (hint: stay away from that one....) But on the "real chocolate" continuum, there's a lot of variety. 

It's most useful to break it down by the percentage of the product (by weight) that is actually cacao solids (cocoa from the pulverized bean). Chocolate was probably first consumed as a bitter drink made from the pods from the cacao tree in South America, but most present-day chocolate available in stores is much more sugar than cocoa, so really does not count as a healthy food. But 100% cocoa powder or cacao bean without sugar is unpleasant and quite bitter. So we need to find a happy medium. 

Recent research suggests that a dark chocolate with at least a 70% cocoa content has potent antioxidant activity from flavonoids and polyphenols, similar to that found in green tea. Remember why we need antioxidants? Reactive oxygen species (free radicals) are produced with every breath you take, from the working machinery of your cells, and we are also exposed to free radicals from toxins and environmental pollution. But whether from outside or made within, those chemically reactive compounds can damage cells and DNA, leading to disease, including cancer. A steady supply of antioxidants is needed to neutralize those compounds. How amazing that dark chocolate can be a part of your antioxidant team! 

How do you pick a good dark chocolate? Look on the label for "70% cacao" or higher. My favorite is in the 70 to 75% cacao range. The ingredient list should be pretty simple, dark chocolate (cacao beans, sugar, cocoa), and very little else.  It's OK that there's some sugar, you just don't want it as the first ingredient. And you will notice in the "nutrition facts" that most of the calories come from fat. So the sugar and fat are reminders that this is candy, and that a small serving (only 1 ounce or so) is all you need, a few times a week. If you find it difficult to stop there, maybe get your antioxidants from tea instead. 

You should also know that there are significant environmental and labor costs to chocolate production, with child labor, slavery, and deforestation all connected to the chocolate industry. So be careful to buy brands that are fair trade and Rainforest Alliance certified.  Please pay more for your chocolate to avoid being party to the unseen terrible costs that went into a cheap chocolate bar.

And from my own "personal favorites" file, here's a great way to enjoy a healthy dark chocolate snack from time to time. First, don't do this when you are very hungry, so you are not tempted to overeat with this. Grab a handful of walnuts and put them in a bowl. Break an equal amount of dark chocolate into pieces about "walnut size" also into the bowl, and nibble them together. Great with a cup of tea, reading a book, after dinner. But not too late at night, this can keep you awake. Enjoy it!

 

To your health,

 

Robert Pendergrast, MD, MPH