Consumption Data
Chocolate sales in the United States now amount to $13 billion yearly. More Americans are overweight, and surveys indicate that they’re not eating enough fruit, vegetables or calcium-rich, low-fat dairy products. One of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association goals is “to increase the consumption of all candy products”. Meanwhile, chocolate consumption in the U.S. went from 10 pounds per person annually in 1988 to 12 pounds per person now. The candy company has mentioned on its Web site, research indicating that chocolate has four times the concentration of catechins (antioxidant chemicals) as black tea, according to a chemical analysis by Dutch researchers. However, the scientists were comparing 3½ ounces of chocolate, or more than 500 calories’ worth, to a half-cup of tea, which has no calories.
Americans are consuming chocolate at the rate of 3.3 billion pounds a year. Critics of the study in The Journal of Nutrition, that looked at whether chocolate’s flavonoids (epicatechins) affect various risk factors like high cholesterol and artery-damaging plaque buildup, point out that chocolate contains fat, and eating too much fat contributes to cholesterol and weight gain — both bad for the heart. Chocolate is usually eaten as milk chocolate, cake, candy and cookies, which contain fatty, unhealthful ingredients. Weight is a problem in this country and has a lot of negative effects on morbidity and mortality. The dark chocolates are lower in saturated fat, making them a better choice. White chocolate has no flavonoids.
{“Chocolate: the new health food? Bottom Line Health newsletter, Feb. 2001}
The Swiss consume the most chocolate: about 22 pounds of chocolate per person per year, while Americans eat about 11 pounds per person per year.
{“Test your chocolate I.Q.,” Delicious Living magazine, Feb. 2002}
Fifteen percent of American women eat chocolate every day. The average American eats 11.6 pounds of chocolate per year. The percentage of American women who are obese is 34%, and the percentage of Japanese women who are obese is 3%.
{Health magazine, Jan. 2004}
Physiological and Biochemical Effects
A study published in the British Medical Journal, Lancet, concluded that chocolate contains a significant amount of dietary antioxidants. There are a few inherent drawbacks to consuming chocolates because a single ounce of chocolate contains approximately one hundred fifty calories and consists of 40 to 53% fat, and chocolate is a plentiful source of phenylethylamine, a compound that behaves similarly to amphetamine, which can trigger an allergic response or migraine in certain people. Chocolate phenols may also help regulate the immune system response.
{“Chocolate paves the way to your heart in more ways than one,” wholelifehealth.com - March 2001}
Chocolate contains caffeine and is very irritating to the kidneys. It is high in fat and can cause indigestion.
{“Nutrient Destroyers,” healing.about.com, March 2002}
Fat of any kind packs twice as many calories as carbohydrate or protein. Chocolate also contains several important minerals. The Nestle’s Research Center in Switzerland reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that they reduced the absorption of fat from chocolate in study volunteers who ate two chocolate bars per day along with their regular diet. The secret? Calcium. Over a two-week period, those who ate chocolate laced with calcium absorbed 13% less chocolate-derived fat (and 9% fewer calories) than those who ate plain chocolate. At the same time, their LDL (but not HDL) cholesterol fell 15%. Apparently, calcium binds with the fatty acids in chocolate, making them more difficult for the body to absorb.
{“Bring on the chocolates, valentine!,” Harvard Women’s Health Watch, Feb. 2002}
Chocolate and peppermint can induce reflux and can weaken the valve between the stomach and the esophagus, says Dr. Mary Beth Spenarkle, private practitioner in gastroenterology in Durham, NC.
{“IBS,“ People’s Pharmacy, public radio, show # 217, May 1998}
Coffee, tea, cola and chocolate all contain methylxanthines, which have been shown experimentally to produce biochemical changes in breast tissue. Soft, movable, tender breast cysts are a common finding in pre-menopausal women, and are usually noticeable especially in the week or two before menstruation, and usually occur in both breasts. Removing methylxanthines from the diet has been found to improve breast tissue and resolve cysts in many women.
{Textbook of Natural Medicines, Murray M. and J. Pizzorno, 1999}
{“Caffeine, chocolate, and breast cysts, a little known relationship,” Cathy Wong, altmedicine.about.com, May 2002}
Scientists have discovered over the last few decades that chocolate may cause headaches, obesity, heartburn, rectal itching, coronary problems, and emotional problems such as feelings of anger, irritability, confusion, and depression. There are approximately 380 known chemicals in chocolate, among them are caffeine, theobromine and phenyethylamine. Caffeine is a stimulant, and can cause anxiety, sleep problems, heartburn, restlessness, and difficulty with concentration. Headaches and fatigue are usual signs of withdrawal from caffeine. Although there is much less caffeine in chocolate than in a cup of coffee, small amounts add up. Theobromine occurs naturally in cocoa beans and stimulates the nervous system and heart rate. It may affect emotional moods as a natural antidepressant. It is also a mild diuretic. Phenyethylamine affects mood swings by causing an initial emotional high then a short time later an emotional low. It causes blood pressure and blood-sugar to rise, resulting in a feeling of alertness and contentment.
{“Are you allergic to chocolate?” allergies.about.com, May 2002}
Specific foods to avoid that make heartburn/acid indigestion worse: chocolate (chocoholics suffer severely), coffee, fatty foods, peppermint. Those are the foods that actually work by relaxing the natural sphincter, the natural valve between the stomach and the esophagus, allowing acid to come back up.
{“How to keep your holidays heartburn-free,” Healthology.com, Dr. Michael Wolfe, MD, May 2002}
Cardiovascular Effects
Two research letters in the Aug. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found dark chocolate and drinkable cocoa had beneficial effects on certain measures of heart function. Both were small studies. Dr. Robert H. Eckel, Chairman of the American Heart Association’s Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism, tells us “Letters to the editors are not the place to change nutrition policy. Not only is chocolate high in calories, but one-third of it is fat that can be converted to a monounsaturated fatty acid.”
In the second study, just one drink of cocoa had a beneficial effect on endothelial function, and Dr. Eckel revealed methodological problems: 77% of the subjects being tested smoked. “The way we process chocolate tends to reduce the concentration of healthful compounds, says Samantha Heller, senior clinical nutritionist at the Joan and Joel Smilow Center for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Prevention at New York University Medical Center.
{“Can Dark Chocolate Halt Heart Trouble?” health scout.com, Sept. 2003}
All saturated fatty acids are known to be risk factors for coronary heart disease, including stearic acid, which is a major component in chocolate, says William Connor, MD, whose editorial on stearic acid in chocolate and its effect on heart health was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
{“The chocolate paradox: to have or have not,” CBS Health Watch, cbs.medscape.com, March 2001}
Despite its bounty of antioxidants, chocolate is no ‘health food'. A ‘dose’ of semisweet baking M&M’s contains 399 calories, 11 grams of saturated fat, and 46 grams of sugar. Some of it is stearic acid, which does not raise cholesterol levels, but a recent large study found it was associated with a higher incidence of coronary, perhaps because it increases the blood’s tendency to clot. So it makes little sense to consume chocolate for its health benefits. Chocolate should be a treat for the taste buds, not for the heart — and savored in moderation.
{“How healthy is chocolate?” Consumer Reports On Health newsletter, Feb. 2001}
A study from the University of Scranton shows that chocolate may help to prevent heart attacks. Dr. Joseph Vinson showed that chocolate contains chemicals called flavonoids that were even more effective than vitamin C in preventing the bad LDL cholesterol from being converted to oxidized LDL.
{Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dec. 1999}
Carl Keen, a nutritionist at the University of California, told a science conference, about the increase in antioxidant capacity after chocolate consumption and modulation of certain compounds which affect blood vessels. U.S. researchers say chocolate contains compounds called flavonoids that can help maintain a healthy heart and good circulation, and reduce blood clotting which can lead to heart attacks and stroke. However, this study of 25 volunteers was funded by the confectionery maker Mars Inc. Also all chocolates are not created equal in regard to flavonoid content, as the production process can destroy many of them, says Dr. Harold Schmitz, a scientist with Mars. The British Heart Foundation said that chocolate has high levels of saturated fats and sugar, and that fruits and vegetables contain much higher levels of flavonoids, plus many other nutrients without the fat content.
{“Doctors say a chocolate a day keeps them away,” Reuters, Glasgow, health central.com - Sept. 2001}
A report published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association (Feb. 2003} said that chocolate is good for your heart. It is true that the cocoa bean contains flavonoids that are potent antioxidants, but chocolate is a bitter tasting bean, and the fats and sugars that are added to chocolate probably cancel out any benefits gained from the cocoa bean. Enjoy it as an occasional treat, but don’t believe that it will prevent a heart attack.
{Dr. Merkin’s E-Zine e-mail, May 2003}
Chocolate contains a high amount of stearic acid, a saturated fat, and saturated fats are directly linked to elevated LDL cholesterol levels and to increased risks of coronary artery disease and coronary death. Chocolate supporters claim that stearic acid isn’t like other fats. Yet, in the Nurse’s Health Study involving more than 80,000 women over fourteen years, the saturated fat in chocolate was shown to increase the risk of coronary heart disease by as much or even more than other, proven-harmful saturated fats.
{American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dec. 1999}
Stearic acid also appears to reduce the protective HDL and may increase tendencies toward fibrin and plaque deposition in the development of atherosclerosis. Based on these and other findings, the editorial (in the Dec. 1999 issue of the American Journal of Nutrition) concluded” “Unfortunately for chocolate lovers, chocolate’s high content of stearic acid puts it in the same category of risk of coronary disease as meat and butter - i.e., pathogenic”.
{“Chocolate: a health food?” medication sense.com, Oct. 2003}
Chocolate is the number one food craving that people report, and for years it has been considered verboten in a healthy diet. Chocolate was never found on the list of healthy foods. Chocolate contains flavonoids, a biological component of plant foods that can help reduce the risk for heart disease. Chocolate, in moderation, can be once again a part of a balanced diet. Chocolate contains the flavonoids catechins (also found in tea, not herbal tea) and this flavonoid in the diet has been shown to help protect the heart from disease.
{“Chocolate part of a healthy diet,” senior health.about.com, Jan. 2002}
Chocolate Quality: Effect of Processing
According to Naomi Fisher, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and lead researcher of a new study, most processed chocolates have “the good stuff” processed out. The researchers believe it is the presence of a subclass of flavonoids in cocoa called flavonols, specifically the molecules catechin and epicatechin, that improves arterial condition. She notes that the molecules exist in many foods, but they are especially dense in cocoa. The researchers saw results in all subjects — but it was particularly evident in the older ones, and it continued even after digestion and elimination of the antioxidant-containing cocoa, sometimes 12 hours to 15 hours later. The problem is that the cocoa in the study is not the cocoa available in the grocery stores. Almost no chocolate or cocoa on the market today contains the flavonols because of processing. Dr. Fisher says that a process called “dutching” mellows the flavor of cocoa by removing its bitter taste, but unfortunately the oxidants go with it. However, if the ingredient list on a dark chocolate includes cocoa, the flavonoid may remain. If there is no “cocoa” on the label, there are definitely no flavonols.
{“No free pass,” Bottom Line’s Daily Health News e-mail}
Eating a cheap candy bar that is mostly sugar, full of partially hydrogenated oils, trans fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives is definitely not doing your body any good. Stick to quality chocolate bars with no additives or added fats. Don’t guilt-trip yourself about having a little treat, but also don’t go overboard.
{“Chocolate and heart health,” Dr. Stephen Sinatra, alternative medicine.com - April 2001}
Almost all plants that we eat contain antioxidants in one form or another, and flavonoids are found in berries, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, and many other foods. Cocoa beans are so bitter that candy manufacturers add fat and sugar to make chocolate taste good: the fat and sugar add lots of calories that most people do not need. You probably will not be surprised to learn that Dr. Vinson’s research was supported by American Chocolate Research Institute.
{Dr. Mirkin’s E-Zine, diana@drmirkin.com, June 9, 2002}
A German study suggesting that eating dark chocolate can lower your blood pressure appeared in the Aug. 27, 2003, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Thirteen adults with untreated mild hypertension ate three-ounce chocolate bars every day for two weeks - half got white chocolate, and half got dark chocolate. In the half that got the dark chocolate, the systolic blood pressure (the top number) dropped an average of five points. The study received no industry funding: the researchers bought the chocolate themselves from the supermarket.
{“ New reason to get a chocolate fix, Dark kind good for heart, study says,” AP, The Daily Progress newspaper, Charlottesville, Virginia, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2003}
In the Aug. 27, 2003 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, a study reported that the consumption of chocolate lowered blood pressure. Eating dark chocolate resulted in statistically significant drops in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure (not to normal, though). The daily dose of three ounces for each of the 13 participants provided almost 500 calories.
{“Chocolate and blood pressure,” Nutrition News Focus, news@NutritionNewsFocus.com, Sept. 2003}
Researchers from Cornell University in a study appearing in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry study (Dec. 2003), showed that a cup of hot cocoa (2 tablespoons of cocoa) has more antioxidants that a cup of tea or a glass of wine. The researchers in this study used pure cocoa powder, which is unsweetened and very bitter. When adding sugar to the drink, the balance of antioxidant protection is likely outweighed by the damage due to insulin abuse.
{mercola.com, Nov. 2003} Sugar weakens your immune system, so eating chocolate will only make it harder for your immune system to fight an illness}
{“Is it OK to eat chocolate?” mercola.com, Sept. 2003}
Chocolate is the most craved food in the country, especially by women. I don’t mind if my patients enjoy good-quality dark chocolate in moderate amounts, and by chocolate I mean plain dark chocolate, which has relatively little sugar. Dark chocolate is also richer in protective antioxidants, and made with cocoa butter, not with unhealthy fats such as palm and coconut oils. Chocolate is not just a food, it is a drug, and a potentially habit-forming and mood-altering one. It contains a small amount of caffeine, but more of another stimulant called theobromine. Pay attention to how chocolate influences your moods, energy cycles, or sleeping pattern.
{“Say it with chocolate,” Self Healing newsletter by Andrew Weil, MD - Feb. 2002}
Clotting Time
The bioflavonoids in a small amount of semisweet chocolate chips prolong clotting time and have a blood-thinning effect. The amount the researchers are talking about is 25 grams (one ounce is 28.4 grams), so the serving studied was one-sixteenth of a pound.) With more chocolate, we get more sugar and more of the other substances that are not necessarily in our best health interest — to say nothing of adversely perpetuating the sweet tooth. The people who participated in the research project had no heart disease or other chronic diseases (so any other disadvantages may not have been as deleterious as for those who have medical problems.) The fact remains, however, that a small amount of chocolate consumption causes a significant increase in the concentration of plasma flavones, and an antithrombotic response at two hours. These results support the concept that small amounts of food rich in flavonoids, such as chocolate, can transiently affect platelet function. However I think we all know that there are better choices, albeit not as appealing to the taste buds.
{Journal of the American Medical Association, May 1, 2002}
{“Chocolate and clotting time,” Nutrition Hints #827, Betty Kamen, PhD, and Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, MD, May 2002}
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that a special cocoa can keep blood platelets from sticking together and causing clots. This action appears quite similar to the way in which aspirin works to reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Other benefits of chocolate include reduced oxidation of dangerous LDL cholesterol, and cocoa flavonoids appear to relax artery walls. However, some methods used to process chocolate from the cocoa bean destroy these antioxidants, and most chocolate treats are high in calories and fat, which is bad for the heart and for health in general. Alkali processing used in many commercial cocoas depletes these agents.
{“Is chocolate the new health food?” health central.com, Aug. 2000}
In a study based at the University of California, Davis with funds from Mars, Inc., the effect of chocolate on platelet function was determined by measuring the amount of certain chemical compounds in the blood that influence platelet functioning. The researchers asked 18 healthy adults to consume 25g (about a handful) of semi-sweet chocolate chips. At points 2 and 6 hours after the subjects ate the chocolate, the researchers noted that the concentration of flavonoids increased in the blood, and platelets in subjects’ blood took longer to clot after eating chocolate than before. Americans prefer milk chocolate, says lead author Roberta Holt of the University of California, Davis, which contains fewer flavonoids than dark chocolate. Furthermore, other foods beside chocolate contain flavonoids, but without the high calories and fat. Although the study only measured the benefits of chocolate up to six hours after consumption, Holt said that the long-term benefits of eating flavonoid-rich chocolate in moderation are currently under investigation.
{“Same health benefits - from less chocolate,” Journal of the American Medical Association, May 1, 2002, and Reuters Health, preventdisease.com, Dec. 2003}
Effects on Mood: Psychoactivity
The addictive craving for chocolate may be due, in part, to the mood-altering power of several of its components, one of which is phenylethylamine. This substance selectively raises tryptophan uptake in the brain, and higher levels of tryptophan elevate brain petrochemicals associated with pleasure. It is suspected of being the chemical mediator of the “falling in love” feeling, which may explain chocolate’s alleged aphrodisiac qualities. Other chemicals found in chocolate have the ability to mimic the psychoactive effects of marijuana, producing euphoria and a heightened sensitivity. However, it is not known if these chemicals exist in high enough amounts in chocolate to produce such effects. Here are some facts about chocolate:
- Cocoa has antioxidant properties similar to vitamin E, and may enhance immune function.
- Chocolate contains saturated cocoa fat, and saturated fat is associated with heart disease. But cocoa fat does not produce nearly the elevation of blood fats that butter or beef fat does.
- In 16% of migraine sufferers, chocolate, red wine, beer, or cheese can bring on an attacks.
- Chocolate increases the symptoms of some women suffering with severe PMS.
- There is no evidence that chocolate causes acne.
- Chocolate may increase kidney stone formation. Those with a history of this disease are advised to drink a lot of water when consuming chocolate, or avoid chocolate altogether.
{“Chocolate - the drug of choice,” based on information in Nutrition Today, May/June 1998, excerpted from Spectrum Magazine, on GaryNull.com}
Chocolate contains a number of chemicals that are known to be mood-altering and/or addictive, which can cause intense cravings just as any other drug addiction would. Most of these chemicals are fairly harmless — except refined sugar. Sugar can cause unnecessary weight gain and suppress your immune system.
{“Becoming a recovering chocoholic,” Nutrition and Healing e-mail, Jonathan Wright, MD, and Amanda Ross, Jan. 1, 2004}
The active ingredients in cocoa powder are said to release endorphins, the brain’s pleasure chemical, and it has been shown that a chocolate bar does raise endorphin levels, but not the effect is not due to chocolate. White chocolate (which has only fat and sugar but no cocoa) had the same effect as the chocolate bar made of cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar. At least one study puts cocoa butter’s stearic acid next to beef and dairy fat in the category of things to avoid. Cocoa powder has a little caffeine and theobromine (a stimulating cousin to caffeine).
{“Chocolate: sweet romance or tragic love affair," nexus pub.com - 2000}
Cocoa powder and chocolate do contain a substance that might set off some neurons in the brain and produce a feeling of well-being, according to one study, but to get any psychoactive effect, you would have to swallow fifty to one hundred pounds at one sitting — too much even for a chocoholic. Chocolate is rich in some of the same antioxidants as tea, which may help protect against heart disease and cancer. One ounce of chocolate has about as much as a half cup of brewed black tea.
{“Semi-sweet news for your valentine,” U.C. Berkeley Wellness Letter, Feb. 2001}
“Its almost as if people have chocolate receptors in their brains.” Certain foods, including chocolate, cheese, red meat and practically anything combining sugar and fat, are just plain addictive, says Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and author of the book ‘Breaking the Food Seduction.’ “These foods stimulate the release of chemicals in the brain’s pleasure centers that keep you hooked.” Besides tapping the brain’s own “feel good” chemicals, Barnard says, some of these foods contain drug like molecules of their own. Chocolate offers an entire pharmacopeia, from cannabinoids to amphetamine like compounds. Some other scientists doubt that these drug like compounds have enough zing to make the foods addictive, but no one denies that fat and sugar exert a strong appeal. According to physiologist Mary Dallman at the University of California, San Francisco, fat and sugar are comfort foods and calm the brain, lowering levels of stress hormones. But comfort is different from addiction. In classic addiction, the brain grows less sensitive to a pleasurable substance, and the addict requires higher and higher doses to derive the same rewards. Foods can cause that change, according to a new study in which neuroscientist Ann Kelley of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School offered rats either plain water or a high calorie chocolate drink. Over a two-week period, the animals guzzled more and more chocolate, but produced fewer brain opiates in response. “You see the same thing in rats on morphine or heroin,” she says.
{“That’s why we call it junk food,” It’s not just a metaphor: fats and sweets may be addictive, by Anne Underwood, Newsweek, Dec. 8, 2003}
Gender Differences
A review published in the Journal of the Diabetic Association confirms what many have believed for years: chocolate can be addicting. Researchers from the University of Arizona, reviewed and discussed over sixty-seven previous studies on chocolate and its effect in human nutrition from the past 30 years, and the never-ending question of whether chocolate is a food or a drug. While only 15% of males appear to crave chocolate, as many as 40% of women do (75% of these claim that absolutely nothing else will do other than chocolate). Chocolate cravings may be influenced by a deficiency in magnesium, and used as a form of self-medication for dietary deficiencies.
{“Are you a chocoholic,” nutrition.about.com, May 2002}
You may think your chocolate cravings are due to a sweet tooth, but they may be an indication that you have a calcium/magnesium imbalance. Cocoa powder contains more magnesium than any other food, so you may be a chocoholic if your body needs more magnesium, less calcium, or both. Don’t rush out and stock up on candy bars and other chocolate-rich foods, because you can create more of an imbalance. The excessive amount of sugar in the chocolate causes magnesium excretion and causes the calcium to be leached out of your bones (alcohol also has this effect). In this way, diets that are excessive in sugar contribute to premenstrual bloating and weight gain. When you increase your magnesium and decrease calcium, eventually the chocolate cravings will leave and chocolate will be more of a flavor you enjoy than a craving that drives you.
{“How to save your bones from osteoporosis,” Women’s Health Letter Booklet, by Nan Katherine Fuchs, PhD, Feb. 2001}
Caveats and Food for Thought - Who are the Sponsors of Research on Chocolate?
A couple of Hershey bars can ward off heart disease? Welcome to the 21st — century medical folklore. Chocolate is getting a boost from the “growing body of research” that it is a wonder food. That research has largely been funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute. We need chocolate like we need portable pats of butter to swallow between meals.
{“The chocolate myth factory,” by Bonnie Liebman, Nutrition Action Healthletter, March 2001}
Headline grabbing stories in 2002 about chocolate’s new-found health benefits stemmed from a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, November 2001, which was funded by the American Cocoa Research Institute and comprising only 23 subjects. The summary of the article, which is what most people read, stated that cocoa and chocolate, when added to a healthy diet, provided antioxidant benefits and increased the good HDL (high density lipoprotein) cholesterol. One antioxidant benefit was to impede the harmful, atherosclerosis-accelerating oxidation of LDL (low density lipoprotein cholesterol, the bad cholesterol). These were the findings that the media trumpeted. A closer look at the article wasn’t quite as encouraging. The authors acknowledged that the beneficial effects from chocolate were small at best, and that the small differences remain to be clarified — meaning that the small differences might have no significance at all. Regarding the so-called benefits of increasing HDL, these weren’t significant, because the researchers noted that “the cocoa-chocolate diet had neutral effects on lipids and lipoproteins".
In the same issue, the journal published an editorial, “How good is chocolate," by nutrition expert Paul Nestel, “Given that there are thousands of flavonoids in the foods we eat . . . should each new finding be greeted as an encouragement to eat that particular source because it contains a special flavonoid?” Why didn’t the media report that too? Why did the media extol the tenuous, non-significant findings of the chocolate studies? It is well known that marketers of any product are constantly trying to find reasons to separate their product from the pack. Any small difference is sufficient for a marketing campaign, even if the difference isn’t scientifically significant. “Antioxidants” — that sounds pretty good. Everyone is into antioxidants.
Additional Reports
An environmental group, the nonprofit American Environmental Safety Institute, sued chocolate manufacturers contending that chocolate contains potential hazardous levels of lead and cadmium and should carry warning labels.
{“Suit seeks warning label on chocolate,” AP in The Daily Progress newspaper, Charlottesville, Virginia, May 9, 2002}
CSPI’s Bonnie Liebman reminds us that antioxidants have become a buzzword that suggests overall health to the average American consumer, but the presence of antioxidants in food doesn’t guarantee it’ll ward off disease. With fruits and vegetables “we have hundreds, if not thousands, of studies linking them to a lower risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke." “There are saturated fatty acids in chocolate that raise cholesterol levels,” says William Connor, Professor of Medicine and Clinical Nutrition at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland. Researchers in a small study at Pennsylvania State University were able to demonstrate that giving about a dozen healthy young men a chocolate bar a day as part of their regular diets (without raising their overall calorie levels) did not make their cholesterol levels rise. However Dr. Connor stated that the stearic acid in chocolate appears to increase blood’s tendency to clot — not good if you are trying to avoid a heart attack. Jeanne Goldberg, a professor of nutrition at Tuft’s University, claimed chocolate to be a wonderful food and she likes it, but it slows her down when she would be required to eat 500 calories to get the health benefit.
{“Don’t take candy research from strangers, the claims that chocolate is a “heart-healthy’ food are full of sweet nothings,” Eating Right, Lawrence Linder, Executive Editor of the Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter, The Washington Post Health, Oct. 10, 2000}
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