Q: Is chocolate good for you?
Chocolate has a long and illustrious reputation. Made from cacao, which is derived from the beans of the cacao tree (whose Latin name translates to “food of the gods”), it was used by some early Mesoamerican cultures as food, medicine, ritual offering and maybe even badge. It is no less valuable in modern times; The global chocolate market grew by almost 20% between 2016 and 2021, with revenues of approximately $980 billion in 2021according to the market research firm Statista.
The taste surely plays a role in the popularity of chocolate, but you may have also heard that this delicious delicacy is good for your health. How does this insight compare to science?
“Clearly, cocoa is good for you,” said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and professor of nutrition at the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. “Either chocolate is good for you or not depends on how much cocoa is actually in it and what else is in it.”
Cocoa beans are packed with fiber and “lots of phytonutrients,” said Dr. Mozaffarian, referring to natural chemicals found in plants. Cocoa is believed to contain about 380 different chemicals, including a large class of compounds called flavanols that have attracted a great deal of research interest for their potential health benefits. But it’s less clear how many flavanols and other phytonutrients you need to support health, or whether your favorite candy bar contains enough to do so. And experts have different opinions on this point.
Milk chocolate typically contains about 20 percent cocoa, Dr. Mozaffarian said, although the cocoa content may vary. (The Food and Drug Administration requires milk chocolate to contain at least 10 percent cocoa, but some milk chocolate bars contain as much as 50 percent or more.) Dark chocolate generally contains more cocoa than milk chocolate, but it can also vary widely, so check labels carefully, he said. For possible health benefits, he recommended choosing dark chocolate that is at least 70 percent cocoa.
Many small, short-term human trials have found that dark chocolate or standardized cocoa beverages or supplements can modestly low blood pressure Y improve blood cholesterol and the blood vessel health in adults. And some longer term observational studies have found that those who eat more cocoa might have a lower risk of certain cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Mozaffarian said.
in a systematic review Published in February in the journal JAMA Network Open, Dr. Mozaffarian and colleagues examined how certain foods and nutrients were associated with heart health conditions. They found “probable or convincing evidence” that eating chocolate was linked to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, estimating that an average daily intake of just 10 grams, or about a third of an ounce of chocolate, was associated with a reduction of 6 percent. in the overall risk of cardiovascular disease.
But these kinds of estimates are based on observational studies, which have important limitations, said Dr. JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. These studies can only identify correlations between eating chocolate and health; they can’t prove that chocolate is beneficial: People who eat more chocolate may be different in other ways that affect their health, Dr. Manson said.
Findings from observational studies have also been inconsistent. some have found without benefitY others have found that those who eat chocolate habitually or more frequently are more likely to gain weight, he pointed. Such studies also often do not take into account the different types of chocolate, which can vary in their cocoa content. And the sugar, fat, and calorie count could negate any health benefits of cocoa.
To address some of these shortcomings, Dr. Manson and her colleagues conducted a large randomized trial of more than 21,000 older adults in the United States. Half of the participants were given a cocoa extract supplement containing 500 milligrams of cocoa flavanols, and the other half were given a placebo. The results of the study, called the COSMOS trial, were published in June in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
After following the participants for 3.6 years, the researchers found that while the cocoa supplement group was not statistically less likely to have cardiovascular events, including heart attacks and strokes, compared to the placebo group, it was had a 27% reduction in cardiovascular deaths. . Dr. Manson called these results “promising signs for heart protection,” though she stressed that another trial is needed to confirm the findings before translating them into recommendations for cocoa flavonol intake.
Importantly, the COSMOS trial did not give participants chocolate, but concentrated cocoa extract capsules produced by the chocolate manufacturer Mars, which also partially funded the study. To get the same amount of bioactive cocoa flavanols from chocolate, a person would have to eat about 4,000 calories of milk chocolate or 600 calories of dark chocolate per day, Dr. Manson said, noting that a large proportion of flavanols can be destroyed during chocolate processing.
Chocolate is “a wonderful gift, but to perceive it as a health food, I think it has its limitations,” said Dr. Manson.
Much of the research, including his own, into the potential health benefits of chocolate and cocoa has been funded by chocolate companies like Mars, Dr. Manson said. “These trials are expensive,” and government funding for nutrition studies is generally limited, he added. Research suggests that the results of studies sponsored by the food industry, including the chocolate onesthey are more likely to be favorable to the companies that fund them, although Dr. Manson said that Mars was not involved in the design or analysis of the COSMOS trial.
For his part, Dr. Mozaffarian is convinced by existing research that dark chocolate containing 70 percent or more cocoa is likely beneficial for heart health, even if it contains fewer flavanols than those tested in the COSMOS trial. “Eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day is probably very good for us and will make you happy, because it tastes good,” he said.
Dr. Mozaffarian said that he does not receive any funding from the chocolate industry, but admitted to a conflict of interest when it comes to this particular food. “My conflict is that I love dark chocolate,” he said.
Alice Callahan is an Oregon-based health and science journalist and frequent contributor to The New York Times.
