Chocolate: Part Of A Healthy Diet Or A Calorie Bomb With Fats And Sugar?

Chocolate: part of a healthy diet or a calorie bomb with fats and sugar?

Research has often touted chocolate as a prevention tool for heart disease. But nutritionists still have many questions for him.

Photo: Tim Sackton / Flickr

The benefits and harms of chocolate is a topic that often comes up in the media. Research on this issue does appear frequently and is widely reported. In recent years, the image of dark chocolate as an absolutely healthy product has emerged. Let us recall how different types of chocolate can affect health.

The main active ingredients of chocolate are flavonoids and other strong cocoa antioxidants. A significant amount of cocoa (from 60%) is contained only in dark chocolate, therefore it is he who is considered useful by many.

Most often we hear about the beneficial effect of dark chocolate on the heart and blood vessels. The latest analysis of research from the past 50 years, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that eating chocolate at least once a week is associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. On average, consuming this product once a week or more is associated with an 8% reduction in this risk.

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Research on the health effects of chocolate is usually observational. This means that they cannot prove that it was the consumption of chocolate that caused the observed effects. Such scientific works only indicate the connection (correlation) between chocolate and heart health.

A 2017 review found that the benefits of dark chocolate for the heart and blood vessels are more pronounced for the elderly and those at high cardiovascular risk. Young and healthy people received little or no benefit.

Scientists associate the benefits of chocolate for blood vessels with the fact that antioxidants normalize the function of the inner lining of blood vessels (endothelium), lower blood pressure, and affect blood cholesterol levels.

In 2015, a small study of 60 patients with type 2 diabetes showed the potential of dark chocolate in fighting hypertension. A decrease in blood pressure was found in participants when they consumed 25 grams of chocolate for 8 weeks. In the same study, white chocolate was not shown to be beneficial. In 2017, a study linked chocolate consumption with increased levels of "good cholesterol", which could potentially help prevent atherosclerosis. True, a decrease in the level of "bad cholesterol" was not recorded in the study.

Research has also linked dark chocolate to improved cognitive function, improved inflammation, and tissue insulin sensitivity. Scientists rarely write about the beneficial properties of milk or white chocolate. This is not surprising given the high calorie content of these foods and the high sugar and fat content in them. However, there are exceptions. For example, a 2017 study published in the journal Heart argued that milk chocolate was also linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Scientists suggested that the dairy components of the product could have a beneficial effect.

Special mention should be made of the nutritional value of dark chocolate. In addition to antioxidants, it contains a large amount of important minerals (iron, magnesium, manganese, copper, and others). But it remains a high-calorie food with substantial sugar and saturated fat content. To get 67% of the daily dose of iron and 98% of the dose of manganese, you will have to consume 100 grams of chocolate with a cocoa content of 70-85%, which corresponds to 600 kilocalories.

Not all experts agree that dark chocolate is a healthy food. In 2019, Alice Lichtenstein, a professor at Tufts University, argued:

“The data does not support the idea that chocolate is a healthy food. Why do so many think so? It sounds great, so I think people like to say it."

In trying to understand the benefits of chocolate, remember that many studies are sponsored by the chocolate industry. The analysis published by Vox connects it with such biased research that dark chocolate has come to be called part of a healthy diet.

Renowned nutritionist Marion Nestle of New York University said that she loves dark chocolate with nuts, but realizes that it is dangerous. In her opinion, when using any chocolate, you need to remember about moderation.