Source, Getty Images
Jessica Bradley, BBC Future
Various forms of chocolate have been produced from cocoa beans for hundreds of years. In some cultures, sugar and milk are added to it and packaging is made. But is cocoa really as healthy as it sounds?
It is debated whether traditionally consuming cocoa, that is, without adding other additives, is beneficial for health.
Expert Marji McCullough, director of epidemiological studies at the American Cancer Society, cites the Kuna Indians of the San Blas Islands, northwest of Panama, as an example.
Their low blood sugar does not increase with age, they have low rates of heart attack, diabetes and cancer, and the age at death is quite high.
Contrary to scientific research’s findings that excess salt raises blood sugar, this population’s salt consumption is much higher than that of the average person living in the United States.
When McCullough went to the area to learn about the daily food consumption of the Kuna Indians, he noticed that they drank about four cups of cocoa, or water with cocoa and low sugar.
But he wasn’t sure if their health was entirely dependent on cocoa, because he found that Kuna Indians also consumed twice as much fruit and four times more fish than the US average.
They also had a very active lifestyle.
Source, Getty Images
The reason why residents of the San Blas Islands of Panama are healthier than predicted is probably because they drink high-flavonoid chocolate.
There are many studies on whether dark chocolate is good for heart health.
In one study, researchers observed the eating habits and health of 20,000 people. 100 gr including milk. People who ate chocolate had a lower risk of heart attack and disease.
In this study, which was conducted considering other factors such as smoking or doing physical exercise, other factors may have influenced the result.
In another study on the use of cocoa as a food supplement and multivitamin, including 21 thousand people, those who take food supplements with 400-500 grams of cocoa flavonoids every day reduce the risk of dying from heart diseases, as blood sugar and inflammation in the body decrease.
According to Professor Joann Manson of Harvard Medical School, scientists use supplements instead of real cocoa because each chocolate brand contains a different amount of flavonoid concentrate. This amount varies according to the collection and processing method.
Dark chocolate can contain up to four times more flavonoids than tea. However, research shows that the amount of flavonoids decreases during the production process.
Gunter Kuhnle, professor of nutrition and food at the University of Reading, says there is no consensus yet on the amount of cocoa flavonoids that should be taken to provide health benefits.
“I don’t think increasing the flavonoid content in chocolate will make it a ‘health food’,” Kuhnle says.
Source, Getty Images
Dark chocolate also has another ingredient that we don’t know much about: Theobromine, which is in the same family as caffeine.
Despite the caveat, theobromine gives a “mild” effect than caffeine, according to Chris Alford, professor of applied psychology at the University of the West of England. Milk in Chocolate vs. This effect gets stronger as the amount of bitterness decreases and the bitter level increases.
Dark chocolate also contains mostly sugar, but to prevent this, milk chocolates with higher cocoa content can be preferred.
Of course, the bitterer a chocolate is, the harder it is to market.
The dark side of chocolate
Dark chocolate often contains cocoa butter, a high saturated fat that increases the risk of heart attack.
Researchers do not explicitly recommend eating chocolate to prevent heart attacks.
However, a prepared scientific article writes that eating dark chocolate has clear health benefits, as it contributes to heart health when consumed regularly.
He states that dark chocolate, eaten in small portions, is also effective for coping with unhealthy eating habits.
In fact, fat and sugar may help the body absorb the flavonoids in chocolate more easily.
Experts say that some flavonoids are complex, sugar can make it easier to absorb.
But there isn’t enough research on the cocoa flavonoid and sugar content in chocolate.
We also have no way of detecting how much cocoa flavonoids we are ingesting.
“Chocolate is not a health food, and judging by the amount of sugar and fat in most chocolates, the harmful effect of overeating makes the benefit of the flavonoid negligible,” says Kuhnle.
Chocolate makers want to preserve the taste
Small “bean-to-pack” companies focus more on flavor preservation than any other health benefit, and they make high use of cocoa.
But doesn’t preserving the taste of cocoa beans also make chocolate healthier?
Martyn O’Dare, co-founder of the Firetree Chocolate brand, says cocoa beans grown in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific are harvested as soon as they reach full maturity.
Then it is waited for six days of fermentation and dried like that. Some of the dried beans are also sent to England and roasted by Firetree.
This is the same as the original method.
But everything changed in the first half of the 20th century.
At that time, chocolate companies started to buy products from farmers both between November and January, the main harvest period, and between January and June, which is the interim period.
O’Dare says, “This means that chocolate companies buy different sizes of beans that require different roasting times. Then they can force open the shells and roast the ends.”
When vegetables are overcooked, the nutrients in them begin to decrease.
Although the same can be said for dark chocolate and the fruit it comes from, more research needs to be done on the cocoa bean.
Although the flavonoid can be found in different foods besides chocolate, research suggests including dark chocolate in a healthy diet.