Dark chocolate: Image via Wikipedia
Cacao seeds are a super-fruit and dark chocolate is a super-food with health giving properties superior to many fruit juices.
This comes from a peer reviewed paper in Chemistry Central Journal even if the study was conducted by scientists at the Hershey Centre for Health & Nutrition. To satisfy my own preferences for dark chocolate I am willing to overlook the fact that the Hershey Centre for Health and Nutrition has probably never found any negative effects of chocolate!!
However heating chocolate destroyed its health giving properties.
Cacao seeds are a “Super Fruit”: A comparative analysis of various fruit powders and products by Stephen J Crozier, Amy G Preston, W Jeffrey Hurst , Mark J Payne , Julie Mann, Larry Hainly and Debra L Miller, Chemistry Central Journal 2011, 5:5
Researchers found that chocolate contains more healthy plant compounds, gram-for-gram, than many fruit juices.
In a test, they found that powdered dark chocolate contained more antioxidants and polyphenols – all of which are thought to protect the body from diseases such as cancer, and heart conditions.
Superfoods are usually classed as those high in antioxidants – compounds which prevent oxidisation and can stop healthy cells from being damaged.
Researchers made comparisons between single servings of dark chocolate, cocoa, hot chocolate mix, and fruit juices including acai berries, cranberries and pomegranates
The research showed that both dark chocolate and cocoa had more antioxidant activity and more flavonols than fruit.
Dr Debra Millar, the lead author, said that the results showed that chocolate should be labelled a “superfruit”.
“Cacao seeds should be considered a ‘super fruit’ and products derived from cacao seed extracts, such as natural cocoa powder and dark chocolate, as ‘super foods’,” she said. ……. However heating chocolate destroyed any health giving properties, they discovered.
The k2p blog 