Does dark chocolate equal health?

By Gonçalo Matias Santos

Nutritionist (6007N)

It is common knowledge that dark chocolate (with at least 70% cocoa) has more benefits than other types of chocolate. But the question is: is this enough to consider this food beneficial to health?

Let's find out.

To do this, we will first analyze the content of the main macronutrients (fat, carbohydrates, and their respective subgroups), and then from a more “micro” perspective—where most of the claims about their benefits are based.

When we look at the ingredients in dark chocolate, we see that most of them have added sugars, which makes this product high in sugar. Here's a visual example: if we split a bar into four pieces, we can see that one of those pieces is almost all sugar (~20%), which should immediately raise a red flag.

Regarding fat composition, considering the previous example, it constitutes almost half of a chocolate bar (~45%), with saturated fats comprising more than half of this content (~55%). It is well known that excessive consumption of saturated fat is associated with an increase in “bad cholesterol” (LDL-c), however, not all saturated fats are the same, so the saturated fat present in dark chocolate seems to have a more neutral impact on cholesterol levels—a point in favor of chocolate lovers (Ding et al., 2006). In fact, it seems to have a more positive than neutral effect, albeit a subtle one (Tokede et al., 2011).

From a more “micro” perspective, dark chocolate is a significant source of magnesium, iron, copper, and manganese, as well as being rich in flavonoids, particularly catechins, compounds with marked anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vasodilatory, and potentially neuroprotective properties—factors that contribute to heart, blood vessel, and brain health.

In conclusion, dark chocolate can be included in moderation as part of a healthy diet. My suggestion is to include it after a more complete meal, for example, accompanying it with coffee after lunch. The high sugar, fat, and calorie content means that moderation in practice means no more than 1 to 2 squares per day of dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa, which is equivalent to about 10–20 g/day.

References

Ding, E. L., Hutfless, S. M., Ding, X., & Girotra, S. (2006). Chocolate and prevention of cardiovascular disease: A systematic review. Nutrition and Metabolism, 3(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-7075-3-2

Tokede, O. A., Gaziano, J. M., & Djoussé, L. (2011). Effects of cocoa products/dark chocolate on serum lipids: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 65(8), 879–886. https://doi.org/10.1038/EJCN.2011.64,