ByBrian Handwerk
Published February 12, 2024
The Maya loved cacao so much they used the beans as currency. They also believed it is good for you—which many people still say today about cacao’s most famous byproduct, chocolate.
In fact, cacao—which, also called cocoa, is the not-so-secret ingredient of chocolate—contains hundreds of bioactive plant compounds, including flavanols, which have been associated with numerous possible health benefits.
“Research on the bioactive components of the cacao bean pretty consistently shows that if you’re consuming greater amounts of flavanols you see mechanisms linked to heart disease are, by and large, favorably impacted,” says Howard Sesso, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. This includes improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
(How the world’s best chocolate is getting even better.)
But while cacao does have intriguing potential to boost heart health and brain function, no science supports eating large amounts of chocolate as a health food—sorry chocoholics. Here’s why.
Is chocolate really good for you?
Spurred by chocolate’s popularity, numerous studies have explored how the natural chemical compounds found in cocoa might be good for human health. While some have suggested that less than an ounce of dark chocolate might improve heart health, much of the research doesn’t involve eating actual chocolate but rather its components.
In 2022, Sesso and colleagues found compelling evidence for the benefits of flavanols. In a clinical trial of 21,000 adults, they found that the half of the group that took 500mg of cocoa flavanol supplements daily had a significantly lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease than those who had taken a placebo. (The COSMOS study, though independent, was funded in part by Mars Edge, a research arm of the candy maker.)
Flavanols may also boost insulin sensitivity, according to some studies, which might be helpful in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes. But the results aren’t conclusive, and those at risk of diabetes might be wise to choose a cacao-inspired supplement instead of eating chocolate—and the sugar it contains.
(How Europe went cuckoo for cocoa in the 18th century.)
Other research suggests that the flavanols found in cacao (also present in fruits, vegetables, and tea) could slow cognitive decline during aging, or even boost brain performance by improving blood flow to the cerebral cortex. But there’s still more research to be done to understand these effects.
What these findings mean for chocolate is limited, however. Participants would have had to eat multiple fat and sugar filled chocolate bars a day to source 500mg of flavanols—and all chocolates are definitely not created equal.
Which kind of chocolate is healthier?
Understanding why certain types of chocolate are healthier than the rest starts with how these variations are made. During production, cacao beans are separated into meaty solids, known as nibs, and a fatty portion called cocoa butter. It’s the solids that contain beneficial compounds like flavanols, but to produce chocolate they are mixed with cocoa butter, sugar, and sometimes milk.
“Any health benefits attributed to chocolate are due to its cocoa content,” says Tim Spector, genetic epidemiologist at King’s College London, and co-founder of the personalized nutrition company ZOE.
(Should you drink chocolate milk after a workout?)
In general milk chocolate has far fewer of these solids while dark chocolate contains more, as evidenced by its bitter taste. In the case of white chocolate, the cacao solids are completely discarded—along with the flavanols and other beneficial compounds—leaving just the cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and often a dash of vanilla flavoring. White chocolate is a source of sugar, fat, and calories—but not much that might be considered beneficial to human health.
So a general rule of thumb is that darker, bitter chocolate has more beneficial cacao content and that’s usually reflected on labels. But Sesso says that’s not the whole story.
“Just because something is marked as 80 percent cocoa, that doesn’t clarify whether or not it’s actually good for you,” he says. “Like many other foods, not just cocoa, how you process it from start to finish can have a profound impact on the nutrients or bioactives that are left in it,” he adds.
Cocoa beans can lose their beneficial compounds when they are fermented and dried, for example, and further reduced during roasting and other chocolate production processes. (Cacao more accurately refers to raw beans, while cocoa has been processed or powdered in ways that may impact its active contents, however the two terms are often used interchangeably on packaging—whether accurate or not.)
Spector adds that many of the most popular brands’ products are ultra-processed foods loaded with sugar, emulsifiers, and artificial flavors, with little beneficial cocoa. “In those cases, the negative health effects outweigh any benefits,” he says. “When you choose minimally processed chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa, you get the benefits associated with cocoa with few downsides.”
Cocoa powders and nibs
The Maya enjoyed a variety of drinks laden with cacao powder, which Sessos says is “probably a better source of getting some of the beneficial effects of the cocoa bean than chocolate.”
Don’t confuse these powders with hot cocoa mix, though. Unsweetened and bitter cocoa powders popularly used for baking contain very high amounts of cocoa—up to 100 percent. Hot cocoa mixes contain a lot less actual cocoa and large quantities of powdered milk and sugar.
Meanwhile, cocoa nibs are also a good source of the beneficial compounds found in cocoa because they are literally small bits of the cocoa bean and nothing else. Nibs, which might be mixed into granolas or smoothies, have another health bonus: They boast high amounts of fiber that help digestive health.
Ultimately, Sesso says, our collective desire to tout the health benefits of chocolate “misses the point that it’s not the chocolate that’s healthy it’s what’s in it that matters.”
“If you enjoy chocolate in moderation of course you should have it,” he adds. “But don’t necessarily eat it because you’re thinking about it in terms of its health benefits.”
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