Chocolate - Health Benefits

Jeanne Calment who holds the record for being the oldest woman was a notable chocoholic who regularly ate up to two pounds of dark chocolate a week despite the negative reputation of chocolate at the time.  As it turns out perhaps she was on to something.

The Central American Kuna Indians who regularly eat from the cacao plant from which cocoa and chocolate are derived have also been shown to have increased longevity.

Flavanols found in dark chocolate and also in tea and some vegetables have been found to possibly have a number of health benefits.

These include

• lowering blood pressure
• lowering mental stress
• improving or maintaining age-related memory functions
• correlating with reduced all-cause mortality

Epicatechin in particular is the flavanol that is thought to impart these health benefits but its effects seem to be significantly reduced or blunted in the presence of milk which is why milk chocolate doesn't seem to provide the same effects as dark chocolate. The common process of dutching or alkalinizing cocoa to modify its color and make it taste milder also reduces the flavanol content making chocolate that has undergone such a process less likely to give beneficial results.

While epicatechin has garnered all the attention it is probably also worthwhile to note that cocoa and dark chocolate are also chock-full of minerals and nutrients such as magnesium, phosphorous and potassium which are also linked to improved health.


Cocoa Powder Nutrients

Nutrient	Unit	Value per 100 g	1 cup 86g	1 tbsp 5.4g
Proximates
Water	g	3.00	2.58	0.16
Energy	kcal	228	196	12
Protein	g	19.60	16.86	1.06
Total lipid (fat)	g	13.70	11.78	0.74
Carbohydrate, by difference	g	57.90	49.79	3.13
Fiber, total dietary	g	37.0	31.8	2.0
Sugars, total	g	1.75	1.50	0.09
Minerals
Calcium, Ca	mg	128	110	7
Iron, Fe	mg	13.86	11.92	0.75
Magnesium, Mg	mg	499	429	27
Phosphorus, P	mg	734	631	40
Potassium, K	mg	1524	1311	82
Sodium, Na	mg	21	18	1
Zinc, Zn	mg	6.81	5.86	0.37
Vitamins
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid	mg	0.0	0.0	0.0
Thiamin	mg	0.078	0.067	0.004
Riboflavin	mg	0.241	0.207	0.013
Niacin	mg	2.185	1.879	0.118
Vitamin B-6	mg	0.118	0.101	0.006
Folate, DFE	µg	32	28	2
Vitamin B-12	µg	0.00	0.00	0.00
Vitamin A, RAE	µg	0	0	0
Vitamin A, IU	IU	0	0	0
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol)	mg	0.10	0.09	0.01
Vitamin D (D2 + D3)	µg	0.0	0.0	0.0
Vitamin D	IU	0	0	0
Vitamin K (phylloquinone)	µg	2.5	2.2	0.1
Lipids
Fatty acids, total saturated	g	8.070	6.940	0.436
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated	g	4.570	3.930	0.247
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated	g	0.440	0.378	0.024
Cholesterol	mg	0	0	0
Other
Caffeine	mg	230	198	12

National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference
Release 27   Software v.2.0b
The National Agricultural Library

References

• Brickman AM, Khan UA, Provenzano FA, et al. (October 26, 2014). Enhancing dentate gyrus function with dietary flavanols improves cognition in older adults. Nature Neuroscience.
• Corti R, Flammer AJ, Hollenberg NK, et al. (2009). Cocoa and Cardiovascular Health. Circulation 119: 1433-1441.