Photo by f10n4
An editorial in The Lancet reminds us that all dark chocolates are not created equal!
A lot of studies have shown that Dark chocolate is good for the heart. This is because they contain lots of flavinoids – antioxidants which helps to reduce the oxidative damage to our body. (For knowing more about the benefits of dark chocolate, read my earlier post – A dark chocolate a day keeps the cardiologist away!)
Photo by karimian
But the truth is that dark chocolate need not necessarily contain flavinoids. As flavinoids taste bitter, some companies remove the flavinoids from dark chocolate to make them taste better. All that remains is fat and sugar and there is no health benefit whatsoever. Most companies do not reveal the content of flavinoids in their products and we have no way for finding out whether they are heart healthy or not. (Unless ofcourse you send them for analysis in a lab!) So the bottom line is, if you cant find a label describing the amount of flavinoids in the chocolate, you better stick to the traditional heart healthy diet – a balanced diet low in sugar, salt and fat, with lots of fruits and vetgetables.
Reference: The Lancet;
Damn, I gotta start reading your blog more often, the holiday eating got to me! LOL!
But thanks for commenting for some link love, feel free to tell anyone that wants it too!
Happy New Years!
Jay
DatMoney.com
DatCurious.com
Great post!
I really like the ‘bitterness’ of it and can tell if they’ve removed the flavinoids. Thanks for the tips! great site!
I adore dark chocolate and not just for the benefits.
thanks for the tip! Sometimes we read an article about health benefits of certain food and we scramble to eat them, when most probably the processed food that we by actually contains none of the value we read about.
I love dark chocolate. So I told myself that since my favorite chocolate, Lindt Truffles, were the 60% cocoa ones, they were good for me… ntil my son grabbed them and read the label and pointed out to me that 1/3 of my saturated fat for the day was in a serving of them.
Oh well… guess I’ll have some fruit instead!
i guess im sticking with coffee then.
thanks for the info.
And what about Red wine ?
hmm… This site gives good information about how to keep healthy. Wonderful!
I have been looking for a site quite like this! Glad i found this, I really enjoy dark chocolate… yum yum, nice to know its good for my heart!!
http://lunchmaniac.blogspot.com
try to visit my blog some time, but not all food found there are good for the heart though >_<
I absolutely love dark chocolate. I have read about its many benefits lately and have enjoyed a few pieces. But, you are right that it is best to stick to a heart healthy diet.
oh man. it’s my favorite, r there another way can i do to continue eat the chocolate. that’s my heaven
i didn’t know that but then most of the time i’ll put the whole bar of chocolate into my mouth – risk or no risk
cheers …
Thanks for sharing
Wow, I totally didn’t know that. Thanks so much for that entry! I’m feeling smarter already
thanx for the info. I recently started moving to dark chocolate , guess i need to just cutback instead of replacing.
Thanks for sharing this. I read somewhere that it’s good for the heart. My family loves dark chocolate so much, I guess we have to slow down on it. Happy Friday.
Oh no, that’s the worst news ever! Makes perfect sense, though.
I tried the Lindt 99% dark and it was incredibly bitter. Gave me a headache eating it, but my heart probably appreciated it…
http://www.joyfuldigesting.com/
[...] All ‘dark’ chocolate not good for heart As flavinoids taste bitter, some companies remove the flavinoids from dark chocolate to make them taste better. All that remains is fat and sugar and there is no health benefit whatsoever. [...]