I had a conversation with two Registered Dietitians today. They were updating me on the latest thoughts in Nutrition World. We talked about the benefits of wine (red is better than white, but we still agree that people shouldn’t necessarily start drinking wine just for the benefits if they don’t even like it). I learned that beer is now thought to be beneficial as well. One drink per day (12 oz. beer or 5 oz. wine) can be healthy.
We also discussed dark chocolate, which has flavanols. Flavanols act as antioxidants, which are protective. Dark chocolate can help us lower our LDL and maintain our HDL. The catch is that the dark chocolate needs to contain 65% or higher cacao to have these heart-healthy benefits. I did a quick search on dark chocolate, specifically trying to find a cacao content for my Dove Promises, but unfortunately I could not. Dove does have a well-marked dark chocolate bar with 71% cacao, but since the cacao content of Promises isn’t well documented, I suspect it’s not high.
One of the reasons dark chocolate is healthier is because out of the three types of fat in dark chocolate, only one causes an increase in cholesterol levels. The catch with all this dark-chocolate-is-healthy stuff is that, just like anything else, if we eat too much of it we get too many calories, which can lead to weight gain and all the health problems that go with it. So it’s back to everything in moderation, including dark chocolate. Here’s an article that gives a great explanation on dark chocolate.
I think the point in the article about avoiding dark chocolate that also contains caramel or such high-calorie fillers. Darn – those are so tasty, but it does defeat the purpose. I also learned, from my RD friends, that the price of chocolate has gone up in the last six months. So if anyone finds a high quality (high cacao content) dark chocolate that is reasonably priced, please let me know!