Can Chocolate Really Be Healthy?

[Just an aside before I start - I just noticed that the picture above is titled “grey metal on soil,” but it looks like dark chocolate to me!]

My father used to joke that there’s an easy way to determine if a given food is healthy or not and that’s if it tastes good, it’s definitely not healthy! That’s a matter of subjective tastes, but I think there’s some things that do taste good and can at least have some health benefits. One example is chocolate.

Chocolate contains various compounds with potentially healthy effects, ranging from anti-cancer effects, to mood elevation, to cardiovascular benefits. Of these compounds, flavonols are probably one of the most significant. Among other things, flavonols increase nitric acid levels, which in turn produce dilation of the blood vessels, which helps moderate blood pressure and in general is important to cardiovascular health.

But to get maximum flavonol content, you should consume dark chocolate that is at least 70% cocoa solids (cacao). It’s also preferable to consume undutched chocolate. Dutching of chocolate is a process to reduce its acidity and bitterness, which also removes many of the healthy compounds in chocolate.

But this raises a potential concern because 70% cocoa (or more) dark, undutched chocolate, is also potentially going to be (relatively) high in heavy metals like cadmium and lead, which are decidedly bad for you.

The heavy metals in chocolate aren’t due to contamination, but exist naturally in the soil where much of the world’s cacao crop is grown. Different regions and even different farms in the same region may produce cacao with higher or lower content of heavy metals.

Because of this, lists of “safer” chocolate brands may not be reliable long-term, as chocolate-producing companies may periodically change cacao suppliers and the suppliers may switch from one cacao farm to another. As an example of this, in researching this article, I found two different lists ranking heavy metal content of chocolate brands, one of which had a popular brand’s dark chocolate product listed in the “safest” category, and the other had the same brand and product listed in the “worst” category for heavy metal content.

So what to do? Well, sugar content alone, except for really high percentage (85% or higher) cocoa solids chocolate makes it something to be reserved for relatively small intakes. In other words, eating a full-sized chocolate bar every day is probably not a good idea, flavonols or not.

Consuming smaller quantities (an ounce or two) of 70% or higher cacao chocolate a few times per week is a reasonable intake to provide the health benefits of chocolate and is probably not going to create an excessive heavy metal load on the body. It’s probably still worth looking at the heavy metal content lists to see which brands happen to be lowest on heavy metals on the most recent surveys, but it’s not likely to make a huge difference in the long run.

That said, there is a difference in how different chocolate companies deal with cacao producers, and how those producers treat their labor. From a humanitarian standpoint, I personally prefer to buy from “fair trade” brands, although even with them, there’s potential for abuse. Fair trade chocolate is more expensive, but I don’t mind paying a bit more to (hopefully) avoid perpetuating, even in a small way, the child and/or what’s practically slave labor that goes on at some cacao farms.

With regards to fair trade, most of the “big name” chocolate brands are not. There’s typically a better selection of fair trade chocolate at stores that cater to healthier eating and lean towards more natural products and fair trade products will usually be clearly marked as such.

So, to sum things up, at a reasonable level of consumption (up to an ounce or two a few times per week), and with sticking to undutched dark chocolate of 70% or higher cocoa solids, chocolate can actually be a healthy treat. Enjoy!

Until next time…

George F. Best, D.C.