Is chocolate healthy?
Nothing is better than reading that chocolate is healthy. There are very few people who don’t like this delicacy. The Dutch eat an average of about 5 kilograms per year. Is that really a healthy choice?
Chocolate is made from cocoa. This comes from the cocoa tree that grows in South America and Africa, among other places. In the fruits of this tree are seeds; cocoa beans. After picking, these beans are covered with banana leaves and placed in the sun. The heat causes the beans to ferment. During this fermentation process, the typical cocoa flavor and dark brown color are created.
cocoa mass
Then the beans are cleaned, ground, roasted and the husk is removed. Eventually a greasy slurry is formed: cocoa mass. Part of the cocoa mass is then pressed under high pressure, resulting in cocoa butter and cocoa powder, also known as cocoa cake. The cocoa powder has a lower fat percentage (10-22 percent) than the butter (53-58 percent).
For the production of chocolate, the cocoa mass, cocoa powder and cocoa butter are mixed with, among other things, sugar and milk powder. In addition, natural flavorings such as vanilla and cinnamon, nuts and fruits or synthetic additives are sometimes added. After curing you finally have the beloved delicacy.
Dark, milk and white
Chocolate comes in different shapes and sizes, but the main distinction is of course dark, milk and white. According to the Commodities Act Decree Cocoa and chocolate dark chocolate contains at least 35 percent cocoa parts and 18 percent cocoa butter. Milk chocolate must contain at least 25 percent cocoa and 25 percent cocoa butter. In addition, you will also find milk powder in milk chocolate – and this is not very surprising.
White chocolate is actually not real chocolate, because it contains no cocoa solids. White chocolate is made of, among other things, cocoa butter (at least 20 percent), sugar, milk and flavorings such as vanilla.
Chocolate is a protected name. If a chocolate product contains too little cocoa, the name cocoa fantasy or chocolate fantasy will be used. The manufacturer is then free to determine how much cocoa he uses.
Extremely loved
The taste of chocolate largely determines its popularity, but there is more. The melting point of cocoa butter is slightly lower than body temperature, which means that chocolate literally melts on the tongue. In addition, it is the perfect combination of sugar and fat, which makes it extremely stimulating for the taste buds and the pleasure center in the brain.
Chocolate is therefore regularly associated with a feeling of happiness or even addiction. Many different substances could play a role in this, such as dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, anandamide, theobromine and caffeine. However, to actually affect the brain, you would have to eat dozens of pounds of dark chocolate. The concentration of these substances in chocolate is much too low.
Purely healthy
Studies on the health effects of chocolate are popular. It is important to note that these studies are regularly funded by chocolate manufacturers. However, this does not mean that the results are complete rubbish.
The positive effect of chocolate is probably in the flavanols (polyphenols) that are naturally present in cocoa. These are antioxidants; substances that protect the body against, for example, radiation from sunlight or harmful substances that can arise in the metabolism. They are thought to lower the risk of stroke and heart attack by preventing arteriosclerosis and inflammation. The flavanols from cocoa could also have a beneficial effect on blood pressure, diabetes and the risk of cancer.
For the time being, only sufficient scientific evidence seems to have been found for the beneficial effect on the blood vessels. However, it is not recommended to eat more chocolate to prevent cardiovascular disease. This is partly because of the saturated fat in the delicacy.
raw cocoa
Raw chocolate is chocolate whose ingredients have not been heated above 42° Celsius during preparation. Since some of the flavonoids are lost during the heating of cocoa, raw cocoa seems to be a healthier option. However, raw cocoa also contains less beneficial substances, including oxalic acid. These harmful substances largely disappear when heated. So eat raw cocoa in moderation. The advantage of many chocolate bars with raw cocoa is that they often contain less sugar and added substances. In fact, cocoa nibs do not contain these additives at all.
Enjoy responsibly
Would you like to enjoy chocolate in a responsible way? So choose as pure as possible. If you are used to the sweeter milk chocolate, a very pure variant will initially taste quite bitter. A good tip is to build up the cocoa percentage slowly.
Keeping track of course remains important, because most chocolate bars contain a lot of saturated fats and sugar. A bar of chocolate of 75 grams easily contains about 400 to 450 kilocalories. That is comparable to three sandwiches.
