Tips to Choose Healthy Chocolates

Chocolates and other cocoa products can be very healthy. Here are some tips to choose healthy items:

1. If possible choose dark chocolate made from organically-grown cacao beans that are blanched, unfermented, sun-dried, non-roasted and cold-pressed. It is the best chocolate available. This cacao contains a lot more antioxidant than cacao produced with standard processing. Organically-grown cacao beans will not contain pesticide residues and experience little loss of the natural nutrients. The best nutrient in chocolate is its antioxidant – flavonol – that help maintain healthy blood flow and blood pressure and it is found in the cocoa mass or solids. Fermentation and heating will reduce antioxidant content.


2. If number one choice is hard to find, choose dark chocolate. Unsweetened and dairy-free dark chocolate is the second healthiest chocolate. It contains more antioxidant due to the cacao mass inside. A bittersweet dark chocolate bar contains about 70% chocolate liquor (cacao mass which still contain its natural cacao butter); while a semisweet dark chocolate contains about 60%. The rest is other ingredients, such as added cocoa butter or substitutes, milk, sugar and flavors.


3. Choose chocolate with no added cocoa butter, and no other/substitute fats. Cocoa butter is a fat that is found naturally in cocoa beans. It consists of 34% stearic acid, 34% oleic acid, 25% palmitic acid, and 7% other fatty acids. The oleic acid is actually a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat which is also found in olive oil and is believed to raise the level of the "good cholesterol" known as HDL (High Density Lipid). However, too much fat will produce high calories, which will result in weight gain. Some manufacturers add lecithin as an emulsifier to improve texture and consistency while reducing the amount of cocoa butter added. This soy product lowering cholesterol and triglycerides and increasing HDL, so lecithin in the ingredient list of a chocolate product is good. However, avoid other fats ingredients, such as various kinds of cheap animal fats like lard, or cheap and unhealthy hydrogenated vegetable oils. They are loaded with saturated or trans fats. While you may have heard that chocolate is "bad for you", mainly it is not the natural raw cocoa that is unhealthy, but the other ingredients.
4. As less sugar as possible, the bitter the better. Choose chocolate added with raw, unrefined cane sugar or dehydrated cane juice instead of refined sugar.
   It is well known that refined sugar is a cause or a contributing or aggravating factor with respect to many medical conditions, including: heart disease, osteoporosis, obesity, insulin and blood sugar disorders like diabetes, mood disorders, immune system disorders, leukemia, inflammatory conditions, dental cavities, yeast infections, and depletion of essential nutrients.
5. Avoid milk chocolate or white chocolate. Aside from adding extra fat, dairy products also inhibit the body's absorption of the powerful antioxidants. If you like a hot chocolate with milk or cream, substitute rice milk or soy milk if you want to ensure you are getting the most healthy antioxidants into your body.
   White chocolate is similar to milk chocolate, but without the cocoa base. Without any real cocoa bean content, "white chocolate" is not really a chocolate at all. Since it does not contain real cocoa beans and the many healthy nutrients which are naturally present in the cocoa beans, and since it has a high content of fats from both cocoa butter and milk fat, white chocolate is by far the least healthy choice among the three common types of manufactured chocolate.
6. Avoid Dutch processed chocolate. In the 19th century Dutch chocolate makers learned that they could treat the cocoa powder with alkaline salts to reduce the bitter taste - a process now known as the "Dutching process".
   Dutch cocoa provides less antioxidants than natural cocoa because the alkali process destroys some of the flavanols (the powerful antioxidants found in cocoa). You can tell a cocoa or chocolate is Dutch Chocolate when the label indicates "Dutch process" or "alkali added" or "European style".