Unless you have an allergy or a medical condition that prohibits eating milk chocolate, one bar is unlikely to be detrimental. But it is important to note that dark chocolate contains cocoa butter and can contain many other ingredients, so it can have high levels of sugar and fat. That is the reason dark chocolate gets the healthy reputation. Milk chocolate has a lower percentage of solids than dark chocolate, and white chocolate does not contain any solids. That is the reason dark chocolate and cocoa powder are likely better choices than milk chocolate or white chocolate, if heart health is the goal. Dark chocolate contains a higher percentage of solids. Chocolate bars will typically contain both of these, but in various ratios. Dark Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, or White Chocolate?Ĭocoa beans are processed in order to produce cocoa solids and cocoa butter. While chocolate bars and drinking cocoa both yielded decreases in blood pressure in the aforementioned study, all chocolate products are not created equal. These characteristics appear to be what gives some chocolate products their healthy effects. Flavanols have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Cocoa beans contain flavonoids, specifically flavanols. How could that be? What is in chocolate?Ĭhocolate is made from cocoa beans. But even with these research challenges, the data still point to benefits from cocoa. This presents quite a dilemma for science. Now imagine trying to get some chocolate lover out there to go without chocolate for years if they are in the study? Or imagine anyone you know who is constantly dieting agreeing to participate, when he/she might be thrown into the high chocolate group. To be really confident that chocolate consumption is related to cardiovascular health, we would need participants to be randomly assigned to different levels of chocolate consumption, to stick to that level for years, and see what happens. We do know the rates of disease that are correlated with what they said they ate, but there are many other variables that get thrown into the mix that could confuse the findings. In large observational studies participants report what they eat, but we can’t be as confident what they remember eating over the years is accurate. But in those studies we don’t know the rates at which disease develops over the years or what else participants are doing over that time. Researchers know exactly what participants are putting in their mouths and they know the precise changes in physiology. So in short true experiments we have a great deal of control. Congruent with this trial are epidemiological studies that indicate higher chocolate consumption is associated with lower rates of death from heart disease. It turns out that significant blood pressure decreases were found in this sample soon after consuming chocolate products high in cocoa. In one short-term experiment, researchers somehow managed to find participants in Connecticut who were willing to drink cocoa or eat chocolate bars in the name of science. These studies are much more common in the scientific literature studying chocolate’s role in health. Researchers then use statistical methods to tease out confounding variables like smoking, body weight, physical activity, and other types of food consumption. These are conducted over longer periods and assess chocolate consumption and rates of disease. Large epidemiological studies have also been done, which include data on how much chocolate people eat. There are short-term experimental trials where participants consume chocolate and measures of health related indices (e.g., blood pressure) are taken a short time later. Well then, is the research conclusive we should all be eating more chocolate? Research studies on chocolate are typically conducted in one of two ways. In fact, scientists in the Netherlands found regular intake of chocolate was associated with a 45-50% lower risk of all-cause mortality. Research has demonstrated that eating or drinking chocolate products is associated with lower blood pressure and a decreased risk of mortality from heart disease. Does research support chocolate’s salubrious effects? Marketers have touted chocolate as beneficial, but for many of us, this sounds too good to be true. The juxtaposition of the words “dark chocolate” and “disease prevention” may be startling and attractive because we associate chocolate with special occasions or falling off the diet wagon, not making our cardiologists happy. Chocolate grabs our attention in a headline with heart disease in a way that apples and apricots just don’t.
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