CHOCOLATE HYPE pt. 3

Hey guys, it's me again!

This is part 3 (and the final part) of the chocolate hype series. Since we looked at the positives last time, today we will be focusing on the drawbacks and some potential conspiracy theories (ooooh it's about to get real).

So let's get straight to the point. Despite all the essential nutrients found in dark chocolate, the truth is there is way to much sugar and fats for it to be considered healthy. For every mg of 'healthy nutrients' you are getting, you are gaining more sugar and fats. Therefore the 'antioxidants' that is supposed to improve your heart health and reduce diabetes? Well, you can think of the sugars and fats to be cancelling them out. Furthermore, all those healthy nutrients inside chocolate aren't special; you can easily find them elsewhere.

For example, the ultimate 'dark chocolate buzzword' epicatechin are found in green tea and apples—and with much less sugar and fats.

So then how did chocolate become classified as 'superfoods' or 'health foods'?

Well over the last few decades, the world's top chocolate producing companies such as Nestle, Mars, Barry Callebaut and Hershey's have been funding scientific studies and research grants for health studies on chocolate. And yes, we are talking about millions of dollars. Ultimately, they are not that interested in improving public nutritional knowledge or improving public health; they are simply interested in accumulating evidence that supports chocolate's health benefits—in hopes that this will boost their sales.

And it's working! Sales for chocolate by these companies have been consistently increasing! To top it off, customers believe that 'higher quality' (i.e. more expensive) chocolates are more healthy, which only increases these companies' profits.

The truth is these companies are interested in money. This means they are willing to falsify or hide evidence. All they care about is that their supposedly 'unhealthy' snacks can be branded as 'healthy'.

Scary thought right?

So if there is one take away from this post, I want you to think through decisions before trusting media and adverts. As a chocolate lover, I will never tell you to not eat chocolate. But don't eat it 'because it's healthy'. Eat it because you enjoy it. And if you want to get the maximum benefit out of eating chocolate (in terms of satisfaction and nutrition), don't eat a whole bar but stick to a small block per sitting. Plus, the darker the chocolate, the less sugar/fat.