The primary reason for this decision is chocolate’s richness in flavonoids. Flavanoids are antioxidants that lead to decreased risk in many chronic conditions such as Cancer and heart Disease. Having these in your diet is a no brainer. Flavanols are present in many foods such as onions, however such as polyphenols, there are many forms of flavanols. The specific flavanols in chocolate seem to yield better cardiovascular and neuro protective benefits over those found in onions (Quercetin)
Per 100g Serving
Calories: 229
Total Fat: 13.7g
Saturated Fat: 8.07g
Monounsaturated Fat: 4.57g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.44g
Carbs: 54.3g
Fiber: 33.2g
Sugar: 1.75g
Protein: 20g
Calcium:128mg
Iron: 13.86mg
Potassium: 1524mg
Flavanoids: 1000mg -1500mg
Recommended Serving Size: 30g or 6 tbsp
So Cocoa comes in many different forms. I was debating whether to list it on this list as its chocolate bar form or powder form. Although 99% of the time I opt for bar form in preferably 90% or higher, the most health concentrated form would have to be the powder. This is due to the cacao powder not having the high fat content. Now this isn’t me stating that I believe the fats in dark chocolate (which come from he cocoa butter) are unhealthy, but cocoa powder is much easier to fit into a standard American diet rather than its bar form which yields much higher calories due to its high fat content.
Simply putting a scoop into your protein shake, oatmeal, or even making a hot cocoa leaves much more calories for other foods. Also in my opinion, switching the fats from cocoa with fats from foods such as fatty fish, nuts, avocados, or olive oil would yield more benefit due to the fat type and nutrient profile of those foods. I simply prefer the bar because its a way to satisfy my sweet tooth without the insane glycemic spike much other substitutes would induce. I’ve also developed many recipes that include bar form that are apart of my everyday diet. So take this into account when buying the cocoa. Another side note is that the contents of flavanols are not affected when removing the cocoa butter component. To put into perspective you would need roughly a 40g serving of 85% dark chocolate to get the same amount of what a tablespoon or 5g of what UNSWEETENED cocoa powder would yield.
However, the form isn’t the only thing to look out for when making a health conscious decision. Two HIGHLY important factors to look out for are whether it is dutch processed and the sugar content. Dutch processed cocoa powder uses an alkaline solution which in turn gives the chocolate a higher contents of heavy metals. You want to look for non ducted process powder or bars. Typically single origin brands should be free of this. Now sugar is something I can’t stress enough. Make sure your bar is at least under 20g per 100g and your cocoa powder should have no added sugar if you want to yield the benefits with the given portion recommended. If you want to get even pickier, the bean origin, or genetic profile of the bean could help you make a decision as the flavanol content differs enormously between various genotypes. For example the most common bean used in American chocolate is form the Ivory Coast and is called forastero. They can contain 2%-5% in total flavanol content while the more rare criollo bean, found in South America, can contain up to 10%.
