Time and again, research has linked health benefits to cocoa. In one study, the group of men who ate the most cocoa - just over 4 grams a day - had halved the risk of death . But chocolate is useless, and you should not eat it. How can it be related?
The answer is that it does not, because chocolate and cocoa are different things. There is good chocolate and there is bad chocolate, and as we shall see, you get to a large extent what you pay for.
Chocolate is made as you know from cocoa. You ferment, roast, peel and grind cocoa beans, and then obtain cocoa mass. Cocoa pulp consists partly of fat. In the process, this is excreted, the so-called cocoa butter, and the remainder is called cocoa powder or fat-reduced cocoa.
If you read the table of contents on an arbitrary chocolate cake you will see that it consists of a selection of the ingredients cocoa butter, cocoa mass, fat-reduced cocoa, milk, sugar, hardened fat, other fats, and probably aromas and emulsifiers.
Unfortunately, a large part of the flavones disappear in production, but studies are ongoing on a more useful chocolate variant .
Thus, if we are to utilize the health effects, we should choose a chocolate with high content of active cocoa mass, and thus low content of empty sugar and milk. That requirement specification is met by good quality dark chocolate.
The effects of chocolate's antioxidants, flavonoids and flavones largely disappear when consumed with milk (for example in the form of milk chocolate), and milk also has other negative effects (more on this later). (Many people may prefer the milder taste of the milk chocolate over the bitter dark chocolate. This can be solved, for example, by eating dark chocolate with dried fruit, or by increasing the cocoa content a little at a time. But choose a variety that doesn't feel sweet.)
Cocoa butter is a good fat in itself and is the natural source of fat in chocolate, but since cocoa butter is expensive, it is often exchanged for other, poorer fat sources (on the table of contents on a cheap chocolate cake it may say "sugar, milk, fat reduced cocoa, partially cured fat"). , vegetable fat ").
Particularly watch out for hardened fat, which is directly reprehensible. " Block " is an example of a product with a very high content of cured fat.
If we return to our arbitrary chocolate cake and look at the price tag, we will see that a low price is directly linked to high levels of sugar, milk, or poor substitute fats in the table of contents. (It is interesting in this context that chocolate - contrary to what many people believe - does not cause acne. However, milk and hardened fat can.)
No positive health effects have been measured by white chocolate. White chocolate contains cocoa butter as the only product from cocoa, and contains more sugar and milk.
Dark chocolate is good. Dark chocolate is useful. Eat cocoa or dark chocolate daily. But read the table of contents, and not just the price tag.
The answer is that it does not, because chocolate and cocoa are different things. There is good chocolate and there is bad chocolate, and as we shall see, you get to a large extent what you pay for.
Chocolate is made as you know from cocoa. You ferment, roast, peel and grind cocoa beans, and then obtain cocoa mass. Cocoa pulp consists partly of fat. In the process, this is excreted, the so-called cocoa butter, and the remainder is called cocoa powder or fat-reduced cocoa.
If you read the table of contents on an arbitrary chocolate cake you will see that it consists of a selection of the ingredients cocoa butter, cocoa mass, fat-reduced cocoa, milk, sugar, hardened fat, other fats, and probably aromas and emulsifiers.
Of these, the cocoa mass you refer to when talking about health benefits, because it contains:
- Minerals, especially magnesium, which many people lack.
- Plenty of antioxidants that most people lack. Antioxidants protect against aging and many diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.
- Flavonoids, which lower blood pressure and act anti-inflammatory. They protect against a precursor to atherosclerosis.
- Flavones, which protect against cardiovascular disease and blood clots.
- Theobromine , a mild stimulant, is a good remedy for cough .
Unfortunately, a large part of the flavones disappear in production, but studies are ongoing on a more useful chocolate variant .
Thus, if we are to utilize the health effects, we should choose a chocolate with high content of active cocoa mass, and thus low content of empty sugar and milk. That requirement specification is met by good quality dark chocolate.
The effects of chocolate's antioxidants, flavonoids and flavones largely disappear when consumed with milk (for example in the form of milk chocolate), and milk also has other negative effects (more on this later). (Many people may prefer the milder taste of the milk chocolate over the bitter dark chocolate. This can be solved, for example, by eating dark chocolate with dried fruit, or by increasing the cocoa content a little at a time. But choose a variety that doesn't feel sweet.)
Cocoa butter is a good fat in itself and is the natural source of fat in chocolate, but since cocoa butter is expensive, it is often exchanged for other, poorer fat sources (on the table of contents on a cheap chocolate cake it may say "sugar, milk, fat reduced cocoa, partially cured fat"). , vegetable fat ").
Particularly watch out for hardened fat, which is directly reprehensible. " Block " is an example of a product with a very high content of cured fat.
If we return to our arbitrary chocolate cake and look at the price tag, we will see that a low price is directly linked to high levels of sugar, milk, or poor substitute fats in the table of contents. (It is interesting in this context that chocolate - contrary to what many people believe - does not cause acne. However, milk and hardened fat can.)
No positive health effects have been measured by white chocolate. White chocolate contains cocoa butter as the only product from cocoa, and contains more sugar and milk.
Dark chocolate is good. Dark chocolate is useful. Eat cocoa or dark chocolate daily. But read the table of contents, and not just the price tag.
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