As a nutritionist I am often confronted with people’s beliefs about ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ foods and even more often I face people’s guild of loving specific foods. One of the commonest guilty pleasures is the lust for chocolate, but I often wonder is it really all about the chocolate in their diet which is having a bad impact on their health.

Real chocolate is made of the fermented cocoa beans and contains predominantly cocoa solids and cocoa butter. Yet most of the chocolate sold in UK supermarkets contains added sugars and often milk powder or condensed milk.

The more cocoa solids a chocolate contains the darker will be the chocolate hence white chocolate is made up only by cocoa butter and sugar. Furthermore lighter coloured chocolates often have a higher proportion of cocoa butter, which is also the ingredient of chocolate which provides high amounts of saturated fats.

Most of us are aware that we need to watch the amount of fat and sugar in our diet and surely most chocolates consumed are high in both. So how come that there are ongoing studies investigating potential health benefits of chocolate?

Firstly, it must be mentioned the fat content in cocoa butter is made up mostly of saturated fats yet half of these are stearic acids which seem not raise blood cholesterol levels. Hence pure dark chocolates may not affect cholesterol levels negatively if eaten in moderation. However this may not apply for chocolates which have added milk components and contain relative large quantities of cocoa butter.

Secondly, chocolate and in particular the cocoa solids contain large quantities of antioxidants such as flavonoids and catechins, these may actually provide health benefits by reducing free radicals in the body and therefore dark chocolate may prevent chronic diseases associated with free radical damage such as some forms of cancer. However to actively prevent cancers large amounts and a wide variety of antioxidants are needed in the diet. Antioxidants can also be found in fruit and vegetables which commonly contain less fat and calories and therefore these might be the better source of antioxidants for people who struggle to keep their weight of.

On the other hand the antioxidants in chocolate might also play a role in the suggested moderate blood pressure lowering effects of chocolate when eaten in moderation. A recent study in Sweden even found that consuming dark chocolate on two to three occasions a week after having had a heart attack reduced the risk of death of the participants significantly. But then again such effects might also be achieved with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables containing similar antioxidants.

Yet chocolate solids also provide components not found commonly in fruit and vegetables such as alkaloids e.g. theobromine and phenethylamine which are believed to affect the human physique and help to increase serotonin levels in the brain and as such may help to improve mood. The early South Americans cultivated cocoa already by 1400 BC consumed it mostly as a drink which was believed to fight fatigue. This early observed effect might be originated in the action of theobromine in the body. In Europe cocoa also became a traditional medicine to relief diarrhea.

Taken all these aspects together it appears chocolate might well be a friend rather than a foe, however the health protective components are found in the cocoa solids, hence milk and white chocolate and even milk containing chocolate drinks appear not to provide large health benefits and as mentioned above large quantities of chocolate sold in the UK contain added sugar and milk powder. This might explain in parts why so many people feel guilty after all eating chocolate because their choice of chocolate and the amount of chocolate in their diet might outbalance all health benefits.

After all it might also be of importance to consider other ingredients/components of chocolates when asking ourselves whether chocolate is friend or foe. So for example people who aim to avoid GM-food should be checking chocolate labels very carefully as many chocolates contain soy lecithin as an emulsifier and due to large amounts of soy production being based on GM-crops large quantities of chocolates are subsequently not quite as GM-free as one might wish for. Moreover chocolate contains relative large amounts of lead which can cause permanent deficits in developing brains and although not all lead might be absorbed into the body there might be still an associated risk if children eat often and large amounts of chocolate.

Finally ingredients such as raisins, nuts, ginger etc. which all have other health benefits associated and potentially decrease the fat and sugar content per gram of chocolate might help to balance out for the relative high fat and sugar content of some chocolates. Consequently if I find people feeling guilty about eating chocolate I always try to find out how much chocolate they actually eat, what type of chocolate and what other foods they usually eat before I would argue with them whether improving their health is all about the one piece of chocolate they chose to have.

Andrea Zick, Esteem Fitness Nutritionist London

Esteem Fitness – Personal Training London and the South East