Is chocolate good for you? – The Irish Times

Q: Is chocolate good for you?

A: A: Chocolate has a long and illustrious reputation. Made from cocoa derived from cocoa tree beans (scientific name means “food of the gods”) and used in some of the early Mesoamerican cultures as food, medicine, ceremonial offerings, and perhaps even currency. I did. In modern times it is not so valuable. According to market research firm Statista, the global chocolate market grew by about 20% between 2016 and 2021, with sales of about $ 980 billion (€ 965 billion) in 2021.

Taste does affect the popularity of chocolate, but you may have heard that this delicious treat is good for your health. How does this perception overlap with science?

Dr. Darish Mosafarian, a cardiologist and professor of nutrition at the Tuftsfriedman School of Nutrition Science Policy in Boston, Massachusetts, said: “Whether chocolate is right for you depends on how much cocoa is actually in the chocolate and what else it contains.”

When cocoa beans are packed with fiber and “massive phytonutrients,” Dr. Mosafarian mentioned the natural chemicals found in plants. Cocoa is thought to contain about 380 chemicals, including a large class of compounds called flavonols, which has attracted a great deal of research interest in potential health benefits. I am. However, it is not very clear how many flavonols and other phytonutrients are needed to improve health, or whether the chocolate bar of choice contains enough flavonols to do so. And experts have different opinions on this point.

According to Dr. Mosafarian, milk chocolate usually contains about 20% cocoa, but the cocoa content varies. (The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires milk chocolate to contain at least 10% cocoa, but some milk chocolate bars contain more than 50% cocoa.) Dark chocolate usually contains at least 10% cocoa. It contains more cocoa than milk chocolate, but can fluctuate. Check the label carefully, he said. Considering the health benefits, he recommended choosing dark chocolate, which is at least 70% cocoa.

Many small, short-term human studies have found that dark chocolate or standardized cocoa supplements or drinks can moderately lower blood pressure in adults and improve blood cholesterol and vascular health. Some long-term observational studies have shown that people who eat a lot of cocoa may have a lower risk of certain cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Mosafarian said.

In a systematic review published in the journal JAMA Network Open in February, Dr. Mosafarian and his colleagues examined how certain foods and nutrients relate to heart health. They found “potential or compelling evidence” that eating chocolate was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, and found that only 10 grams or about one-third of an ounce of chocolate. The average intake of was estimated to be associated with 6 percent reduction in the overall risk of cardiovascular disease.

However, these types of estimates are based on observational studies with significant limitations, said Dr. Joan Manson, Head of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. These studies can only identify the correlation between eating chocolate and health. We cannot prove that chocolate is profitable. People who eat more chocolate can be different in other ways that affect their health, Dr. Manson said.

The results of observational studies were also inconsistent. She pointed out that some people felt that there was no benefit, while those who habitually or more often eat chocolate are more likely to gain weight. Studies like this often do not explain the different types of chocolate that may have different cocoa content. And the number of sugars, fats and calories can negate the health benefits of cocoa.

To address some of these shortcomings, Dr. Manson and her colleagues conducted a large randomized trial in the United States of more than 21,000 older people. Half of the participants were given a cocoa extract supplement containing 500 milligrams of cocoa flavonols, and the other half were given a placebo. The results of this study, called the COSMOS trial, were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in June...

After following participants for 3.6 years, researchers found that the cocoa supplement group was not statistically less likely to have cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke when compared to the placebo group, but cardiovascular Deaths found to be reduced by 27% (number. Dr. Manson called these results “promising signals of heart protection”, but before converting the results into recommendations for cocoa flavonol intake, the results. He emphasized that another test is needed to confirm.

Importantly, the COSMOS study did not provide chocolate to participants, but provided concentrated capsules of cocoa extract produced by chocolate maker Mars. To get the same amount of bioactive cocoa flavonols from chocolate, you need to eat nearly 4,000 calories of milk chocolate or 600 calories of dark chocolate per day, Dr. Manson said, and most of the flavonols are destroyed in chocolate. The processing mentioned that there is a possibility.

Chocolate is “a great treat, but I think there are limits to how it can be recognized as a health food,” Dr. Manson said.

According to Dr. Manson, many studies, including herself on the potential health benefits of chocolate and cocoa, are funded by chocolate companies such as Mars. “These exams are expensive,” she added. Dr. Manson said Mars was not involved in the design and analysis of the COSMOS trial, but her research shows that the results of food industry-sponsored studies, including research on chocolate, are in favor of funding companies. There is a high possibility.

On his side, Dr. Mosafarian said that dark chocolate with more than 70% cocoa is likely to be beneficial to heart health, even if it contains less flavonols than tested in the COSMOS trial. Is persuaded by. “Eating a small amount of dark chocolate every day is probably really good for us, and it’s delicious and will make you happy,” he said.

Dr. Mosafarian said he was not funded by the chocolate industry, but acknowledged one conflict of interest with this particular food product. “My conflict is that I love dark chocolate,” he said. – This article was originally published in The New York Times