Healthy Tips Video: Benefits of Chocolate

Video Transcript

So it's the month of February. And I think when we think of February, we think of Valentine's Day. And when we think of Valentine's Day, the food that we usually think about is chocolate. Chocolate is definitely associated with Valentine's Day. And this is the time of year when you often see the media boasting articles about the health benefits of chocolate.

So are those benefits real or are-- is the chocolate company just trying to encourage us to purchase more chocolate? So we're going to delve into that. The answer is pretty complicated. So since cocoa is actually a fruit, it does have, like any fruit, some health benefits associated with it.

Chocolate is rich in flavanols. And the specific flavanol that is very high in chocolate is called epicatechin. Chocolate is the highest source of epicatechin. And epicatechin has been associated with health benefits, like decreasing insulin resistance, better gut health, decreasing blood pressure, and increasing cognition.

The challenge is that most of the studies are short-term. They're not long-term. A lot of them are associated. They're not double-blind, placebo-controlled studies. And then many of them use the epicatechins in an amount that we typically wouldn't be able to realistically eat. So for example, this is a picture of cocoa.

And you'll see, cocoa has 26.2 milligrams of epicatechins per 100 grams. That would be a cup and a half of cocoa. That's a lot. Most of us aren't going to eat that in a day's time. And the other thing about cocoa is it has no sugar in it. So it's very bitter without sugar. So we are typically adding sugar and other things to it to enhance that flavor. And that often is going to increase the calorie content.

Dark chocolate, which is the richest source of epicatechin, it has 41.5 milligrams per 100 grams. This is a picture, but this is what 100 grams of chocolate looks like. So in order to get that amount of epicatechins, you're going to have to eat about 600 calories worth of chocolate, which for most of us is probably not something we have the liberty to do.

Another source is cherries. So they have much less. They only have seven grams. But this is 2/3 of a cup of cherries which only has 60 calories. So what is one to do? I think we all love chocolate. So it's definitely worthwhile incorporating some chocolate in your diet.

The keys are, one, try to get as dark of a chocolate as you can. That's going to have the most epicatechin content, and the guidelines generally say 70% or greater. Try to get chocolate that doesn't have a lot of other added ingredients, fruits or milk or nuts or seeds, because the less chocolate that it has in it, the less health benefits it's going to have in it.

Use Cocoa. Cocoa is much lower in fat than chocolate. But try to figure out ways to use it, I'll have people that will put some in their coffee. You can use it in a recipe versus just using it with a lot of sugar and fat added. And one of my favorite recommendations I have seen is called the triple three treat, which is where you're going to take about 1.5 ounces of dark chocolate, and that is equal to about 80 calories. 

We're going to add a small handful of either cherries or strawberries, some other type of berry or fruit that will go good with chocolate, oranges would be another good one, and then a small handful of any kind of nut walnuts, pecans, almonds. Because remember, you're going to get different flavanols from all of these components, different ones from different fruits, different ones from different nuts, and then those epicatechin from the chocolate. 

This is about 150 calories. It's going to give you that milky, smooth, dark-chocolate flavor, but along with some sweetness from the fruit and some crunch from the nuts, be relatively low in calories, and also very tasty. If you would like more information or have questions, please contact our health resource center at 270-688-4804. Thank you.