The Internet is packed with articles titled things like “great news for chocolate fans” and “7 proven advantages of dark chocolate.” These pieces make all sorts of claims, saying that chocolate can help lower blood pressure, decrease cancer risk, boost brain function, and more.
While I’m not against enjoying chocolate, it’s important to realize that it’s not a health food you should prioritize. Interestingly, many of the studies that suggest chocolate is beneficial are funded by chocolate companies. Major brands like Mars and Hershey have backed numerous studies, with at least 100 funded by Mars alone, promoting everything from chocolate’s heart health perks to cocoa’s potential to combat diseases.
Many people who think chocolate is good for you believe that it provides important flavonoids. Flavonoids are a group of polyphenolic compounds found all over nature, especially in vegetables, and we eat them in large quantities as part of our diet. There are also other kinds of polyphenols, like tannins and resveratrol, for instance.
“More evidence that polyphenols may not be all that they are cracked up to be! Flavonoids are a large family of polyphenolic compounds found across many foods including fruit vegetables, chocolate, wine, and tea. Chances are that if you’ve heard that polyphenols are beneficial, you’ve been told of flavonoids ( anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavonols, flavanones, flavones, and isoflavones, flavonols ). Well, get this, in this study researchers compared two groups of people in a 3 week cross over design. The study was originally intended to study the effects of a green tea extract but no long term effects of this intervention were observed. In order to avoid a confounding influence of other dietary flavonoids, the participants in this study EXCLUDED all other sources of flavonoids in their diets during the study period. At the end of the study, the researchers found some pretty surprising results, the 10-week (long study period!) WITHOUT dietary fruits and vegetables resulted in a DECREASE in oxidative DNA damage! This is consistent with some of the other studies I’ve posted recently which failed to show a benefit to fruit and vegetable intake on DNA damage and oxidative stress parameters (8OH2dG among others) and goes further to suggest improvement in such metrics with fruit and vegetable avoidance.
These studies are very disruptive to the often-repeated notion that eating fruits and vegetables is essential for proper anti-oxidant status, and I would argue that they cast some major doubt on this premise. If we don’t need fruits and vegetables for antioxidants, do we really need them for anything? Is there really ANY benefit to these foods, or is it possible that they are really just survival food?”
– Dr. Paul Saladino
Moreover, chocolate actually causes a lot of health problems for people, myself included.
Chocolate is a High Oxalate Food
Chocolate has oxalates in it, which can raise the chances of developing kidney stones. It’s interesting to note that oxalates are linked to various long-term health problems. Oxalates can lead to several complications, including:
- Kidney Stones: 80% of kidney stones made of calcium oxalates
- Autism
- Skin and eye issues
- Fatigue
- Reduced mineral absorption
- Joint pain
High doses of oxalates can be deadly to humans. <*>.
Chocolate Has High Levels of Heavy Metals
Cocoa can pick up heavy metals from contaminated soil or during the processes of harvesting, drying, and fermenting. As You Sow has carried out independent lab tests on more than 469 chocolate products to check for lead and cadmium. The results showed that 285 of these products had levels of lead and/or cadmium that exceeded California’s Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (MADLs). Because of this, we issued legal notices to over 20 companies, including Trader Joe’s, Hershey’s, Mondelēz, Lindt, Whole Foods, Kroger, Godiva, See’s Candies, Mars, Theo Chocolate, Equal Exchange, Ghirardelli, and Chocolove, for not informing consumers that their chocolate products contained cadmium or lead, or both.
Exposure to heavy metals can lead to various health issues, such as heart disease, cancer, chronic illnesses, and developmental problems. Since the US government doesn’t set a safety limit for lead and cadmium, researchers used California’s guidelines to determine safe levels. According to California’s maximum allowable dose levels (MADLs), the daily limits are 0.5 mcg for lead and 4.1 mcg for cadmium. (Some researchers who can type non-Latin characters might call a mcg a µg.) (Researchers who have figured out how to get their keyboards to produce non-Latin characters often refer to a mcg as a µg.)
Chocolate is a High Anti Nutrient food
Raw cacao has some antinutrients, including phytic acid, tannins, hydrocyanate, oxalate, and theobromine. Chocolate also contains phytic acid, which is considered an antinutrient because it can bind to minerals and stop them from being absorbed in the digestive system (Schlemmer et al., 2009). This means that the magnesium, copper, and zinc found in chocolate might not be fully available for our bodies to use.
Raw cocoa beans have a high level of phytic acid. Tannins can interfere with digestive enzymes, making it tougher for the body to absorb important nutrients like protein and iron. They can also have other effects on the body, such as speeding up blood clotting, lowering blood pressure, and potentially causing liver damage.
Leave a Reply