I'm eating a 70% cocoa dark chocolate bar. It contains a minimum of 70% cocoa solids. One serving is 30 grams. 70% x 30 = 21g of cocoa. Plus it has 14g of fat and 9g of sugar. That would be 44 grams per 30g serving, which doesn't make any sense. Am I figuring it out wrong? If you want to eat dark chocolate for the health benefits or just because it tastes good, I recommend the 70% cocoa bar. Leave the 78%, 85%, 90% dark chocolate, and 100% unsweetened chocolate to cooks and hardcore chocolate junkies.
The picture online shows the last 2 ingredients as bourbon, vanilla beans. But the actual label correctly lists bourbon vanilla beans as the last ingredient. Bourbon vanilla or Bourbon-Madagascar vanilla is from Indian Ocean islands such as Madagascar, the Comoros, Mauritius and Réunion, formerly named the Île Bourbon. However, there is no Bourbon whiskey in Bourbon vanilla extract, despite common confusion about this.
A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70–85% cocoa contains:
11 grams of fiber
66% of the DV for iron
57% of the DV for magnesium
196% of the DV for copper
85% of the DV for manganese
In addition, it has plenty of potassium, phosphorus, zinc, and selenium.
The fatty acid profile of cocoa and dark chocolate is also good. The fats consist mostly of oleic acid (a heart-healthy fat also found in olive oil), stearic acid, and palmitic acid.
The stearic acid has a neutral effect on body cholesterol. Palmitic acid can raise cholesterol levels, but it only makes up one-third of the total fat calories.
Dark chocolate also contains stimulants like caffeine and theobromine, but it’s unlikely to keep you awake at night, as the amount of caffeine is very small compared with coffee.
Dark chocolate is loaded with organic compounds that are biologically active and function as antioxidants. These include polyphenols, flavanols and catechins, among others. According to research, the polyphenols in dark chocolate may help lower some forms of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol when combined with other foods like almonds and cocoa.
One study showed that cocoa and dark chocolate had more antioxidant activity, polyphenols, and flavanols than any other fruits tested, which included blueberries and acai berries.
The flavanoids in dark chocolate can stimulate the endothelium, the lining of arteries, to produce nitric oxide (NO).
One of the functions of NO is to send signals to the arteries to relax, which lowers the resistance to blood flow and therefore reduces blood pressure.
Many controlled studies show that cocoa and dark chocolate can improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, though the effects are usually mild.
Consuming dark chocolate can improve several important risk factors for heart disease. It may protect against high cholesterol.
In a small study, eating dark chocolate supplemented with the flavanol lycopene was found to significantly decrease levels of total cholesterol, LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and triglycerides.
Some forms of LDL cholesterol are more likely to oxidize, which happens if they react with free radicals in your body. Oxidation makes the LDL particle itself reactive and capable of damaging other tissues, such as the lining of the arteries in your heart.
It makes perfect sense that cocoa lowers oxidation-prone forms of LDL. It contains an abundance of powerful antioxidants that do make it into the bloodstream and protect lipoproteins against oxidative damage.
The flavanols in dark chocolate can also reduce insulin resistance, which is another common risk factor for diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
The compounds in dark chocolate appear to be highly protective against the oxidation of LDL.
In the long term, this should cause much less cholesterol to lodge in the arteries, resulting in a lower risk of heart disease.
In fact, research show a fairly drastic improvement.
Over time, a number of studies have shown that consuming flavanol-rich cocoa or chocolate can lower blood pressure and improve cardiovascular health.
A review of studies revealed that eating chocolate 3 times per week lowered the risk of cardiovascular disease by 9% . Eating chocolate more often showed little additional benefit.
Another review suggested that eating 45 grams of chocolate per week lowers cardiovascular disease risk by 11%. Consuming more than 100 grams per week does not appear to produce health benefits.
A 2017 clinical trial found that subjects who consumed almonds with or without dark chocolate showed improved LDL cholesterol levels.
Although all of these findings are promising, more evidence is needed to know if it was the chocolate that reduced the risk.
However, since the biological process is known (lower blood pressure and lower oxidization-prone LDL), it’s plausible that regularly eating dark chocolate may reduce the risk of heart disease.
The bioactive compounds in dark chocolate may also be great for your skin.
The flavanols can protect against sun damage, improve blood flow to the skin, and increase skin density and hydration.
The minimal erythemal dose (MED) is the minimum amount of UVB rays required to cause redness in the skin 24 hours after exposure.
Studies have shown that MED can increase and even double after consuming high-flavanol dark chocolate or cocoa for 12 weeks. The result is that your skin has better protection from the sun.
The good news isn’t over yet. Dark chocolate may also improve the function of your brain.
Studies show that eating high flavanol cocoa can improve blood flow to the brain in young adults. This may explain why eating cocoa daily appears to improve attention, verbal learning, and memory.
Cocoa flavanoids may also help maintain cognitive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment and reduce the chance of progressing to dementia. But more research is needed.
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