A heart-shaped box with chocolate candies.
For years, nutrition experts have advised people to base their diets on fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods. But this approach has its limitations, so some manufacturers have tried to turn ordinary foods into “nutraceuticals”-that is, to fortify them so that they become more like drugs. Since nearly everyone loves chocolate, and since chocolate has potential health benefits, it has been the object of much “medicalizing” lately, as well as scientific attention. Not surprising, the supplements industry has tried to turn chocolate into medicine-putting various cocoa compounds in tablet or capsule form. Is chocolate on the verge of being reclassified as a vitamin?
The healthful compounds in chocolate are certain phytochemicals called flavonoids, also found in tea, red wine, and many fruits and vegetables. Plain cocoa (without added fat and sugar) has an aspirin-like effect on the blood and thus helps prevent clotting. In particular, dark chocolate, which contains more flavonoids than milk chocolate, may help lower blood pressure, reduce blood cholesterol, and benefit the heart in other ways. And that’s only part of the story. Mars, the maker of the fortified chocolate bar CocoaVia has sponsored lots of research on chocolate, as have other companies, foundations and the government.
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For the chocolate eating public, the problem is that pure chocolate—whatever its benefits may be in scientific study—is bitter and unpalatable. Cocoa has to be mixed with sugar, milk fat, and other additives. Turning cocoa into candy destroys some phytochemicals. What you get in a shiny wrapper or an attractive tin may have very little falvonoids in it. The scientific studies usually use very-high flavonoid dark chocolate, unlike what you buy in the candy store. And, of course, the chocolate candy we eat is high in calories—a more reliable source of sugar and fat than of healthful flavonoids.
