Of course, we don’t know about you, but here at the editorial office we love chocolate! Unfortunately, it’s still better to nibble on broccoli than on a bar of milk chocolate, because it can’t really be called healthy. Yet it is said about dark chocolate that it is indeed healthy. But is this also the case, or is it not so bad with dark chocolate?
When is (dark) chocolate healthy?
Because what exactly is said about the health benefits of dark chocolate? Dark chocolate is good for the heart and blood vessels, but only has a small effect. The beneficial effect on the heart and blood vessels is found in cocoa powder, extra bitter dark chocolate, raw cocoa powder and raw chocolate. This is due to the high content of flavanols contained in it. However, you do need more than 200 milligrams of flavanols daily if you want to achieve that positive effect. In other words, that’s a 10-gram piece of extra bitter chocolate or 2.5 grams of raw cocoa powder. That ‘normal’ bar of dark chocolate from the supermarket does not do much for your health.
Heart and vessels
And let’s not forget that regular chocolate contains a lot of saturated fats, so we can’t really call it healthy. Saturated fat is actually bad for the heart and blood vessels because it increases the LDL cholesterol level in the blood. So do you really want the politically correct answer? Real dark chocolate (so with more than 85% cocoa), the bitter variety, can have a beneficial effect on your health if you eat it occasionally. But if you really want to eat healthy, it is still better to choose those nibbled carrots than dark chocolate.
Tip: try this delicious snack of dark chocolate with hazelnut!
