The truth about chocolate: health benefits & moderation
If you’ve followed me for a while you will know that I adore chocolate. Yet, often, we’re made to feel like chocolate is a food we shouldn’t eat. We all know that chocolate contains sugar. But what about health benefits? Are there any? Let’s dive in and find out.…
There’s room for all foods in a healthy balanced diet, including chocolate. There really are no good and bad foods. Some foods are more nutritionally dense than others and, yes, it makes sense for our long-term health to eat more of these foods. All foods have a place though.
So, let’s address the question we all want the answer to:
Is dark chocolate better for your health?
When we talk about the health benefits of chocolate, we’re talking specifically about cocoa. In his book, The Diet Myth, Tim Spector dedicates a whole chapter to cocoa and caffeine (it’s a great book!) and he says, “Gram for gram, cocoa has the highest concentration of polyphenols and flavonoids of any food”. Incredible, right?
Polyphenols are a class of phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are a type of chemical found in plants, so you’ll find a multitude of phytonutrients in vegetables, fruits and legumes. They can also be found in red wine, tea (particularly green & white tea) and, of course, cocoa. There is still a lot to learn about these chemicals, but studies so far have shown they provide incredible health benefits.
Inflammation and chocolate: what you need to know
Flavonoids (a category of polyphenols) can “help your body function more efficiently while protecting it against everyday toxins and stressors”.*** Inflammation is our body’s way of fighting against infection, toxins and allergens. Chronic inflammation, where our immune system is constantly being triggered over a long period of time can eventually lead to the formation of lifestyle diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Flavonoids can help reduce inflammation. Some studies have shown that foods containing flavonoids can help to reduce blood pressure and the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
It makes sense then that the higher the cocoa content, the more health benefits chocolate has. Ideally choosing chocolate with more than 70% cocoa, higher if you can. The taste can be a little bitter until you get used to it, but it may be worth it in the long run.
Is dark chocolate a superfood?
Dark chocolate contains many nutrients our body needs for optimum function, including fibre and the minerals iron, magnesium, copper and manganese. Magnesium is involved in hundreds of processes in our body, including blood pressure regulation, blood sugar control and energy production. Iron is essential for red blood cell production and preventing anaemia.
One 2011 study showed that cocoa and dark chocolate contains more polyphenols than some fruits and fruit juices and stated that cacao seeds should be named as a superfruit.**
The difference between dark chocolate and milk chocolate
Most chocolate we eat contains sugar, fat and milk solids as well as cocoa. This means the way it affects our body is a little different to consuming just cocoa. Sugar and certain types of fat can have negative effects on our health, particularly when we combine them.
In the EU milk chocolate has to contain, “not less than 30 % total dry cocoa solids”.* Milk chocolate may not have the same benefits as dark chocolate and because there’s less cocoa in milk chocolate, you’d have to eat far more of it to get the health benefits of cocoa. Great in theory, right? In reality you’d also be eating a lot more sugar and fat. That’s not to say you shouldn’t or can’t eat milk chocolate though.
The key to chocolate: moderation and enjoyment
It’s what you do consistently not occasionally that matters. It’s better to have a small quantity of what you love occasionally and enjoy that completely guilt free than to be in the cycle of deprive, restrict, punish. Not only is this not a fun way to live your life, in the long-term it rarely leads to weight loss success and often, causes more stress.
No food is healthy if that’s all we eat! In a healthy, balanced diet? There’s room for all foods. The occasional piece of chocolate? Enjoy it, guilt free. Because when you do this-enjoy it and feel satisfied afterwards, it can help to reduce the typical diet cycle of deprivation, guilt and punishment. What could be better than that?
Love, Catherine xx
*Taken from an article on https://eur-lex.europa.eu/ published in 2000
** https://bmcchem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1752-153X-5-5
*** https://www.healthline.com/health/what-are-flavonoids-everything-you-need-to-know#health-benefits