
Chocolate for Valentine’s day may just be good for the heart
What is a Valentine’s day without chocolates! Chocolate is not only good for spoiling your loved one, but it can also be good for the heart – if you choose wisely.
For some, Valentine’s day is either filled with romance, gestures of love and sweet gifts - or for others it is a day when they go home to a huge chocolate selection to help them eat their troubles away. Most of us have been in both situations! Strange that people turn to chocolate in the good times and the bad, whether happy or sad.
So where does chocolate come from and do some chocolates really have health benefits? Today is your lucky day, because we will answer all your questions about life’s most loved sweet treat.
The history of chocolate
Chocolate is the most popular sweet treat in the world. People around the world consume more than 3 million tons of cocoa beans a year, according to the World cocoa foundation.
For years now scientists have been wondering how long we have been using and consuming not only chocolate as we know it today, but the actual cocoa beans. And yes, we spelled that right - cacao is a Spanish word, which is what Aztecs called the beans chocolate is made from. It is thought that English traders misspelled cacao when they brought the beans home, and so the word cocoa stuck. The word chocolate can be traced back to the ancient Aztec word “xocoatl”, a word describing a bitter drink made from cocoa beans and water.
Chocolate can be traced to the ancient Mayans, and even earlier to the ancient Olmecs of southern Mexico. The word chocolate may bring up images of sweet chocolate bars, but the chocolate of today is little like the chocolate of the past. It all starts with the cocoa bean. Thousands of years ago they would dry, grind, and mix cocoa beans with water to create a “chocolate” drink – nothing like the hot chocolate we know, but it was extremely bitter and sometimes even mixed with chillies as well.
So how did chocolate become the chocolate we know today? During the 16th century, a man from Europe travelled to South America to begin Spanish colonies. During his visit, he was given huge amounts of this bitter drink. He decided to take some home with him, and it became very popular with people in Europe. For hundreds of years thereafter, chocolate was only consumed as a drink. In 1828 a scientist from Amsterdam invented the cocoa press which separated the fat from the cocoa bean, leaving only behind the fine cocoa powder. And after many trials and errors chocolate was developed.
Types of chocolate
Chocolate can be divided into three types: dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Dark chocolate is produced by adding fat and sugar to cocoa. It differs from milk chocolate in that it contains little or no milk. White chocolate contains only cocoa butter and sugar and is not considered to be real chocolate, because it does not contain cocoa solids.
Is dark chocolate really ‘healthier’?
First, you must determine if your chocolate is indeed ‘dark’. The easiest way to determine this, is to choose one with a 70% or higher cocoa content. Dark chocolate is indeed the healthiest of the three types of chocolate - let us have a look at why:
A 2015 study published in the journal Heart reviewed food frequency questionnaires of 20,951 men and women. The researchers found that people who consume chocolate quite often had a lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke compared with subjects who did not eat chocolate. Dark chocolate has a high antioxidant content like found in many foods like berries, red cabbage, kale, and beetroot. Antioxidants are substances that prevent oxidation that can lead to the production of harmful free radicals. Free radicals often causing damage to cells in the body.
Studies show that flavanols, the antioxidants in dark chocolate can have a mild effect on lowering high blood pressure levels, it can reduce LDL cholesterol levels in those with high cholesterol due to the antioxidant activity that prevents oxidation and even improve brain function by increasing blood flow to the brain.
Let us compare the nutritional breakdown of examples of the different types of chocolates we found in our shops
Type of chocolate |
30g White chocolate (we used Nestle Milkybar) |
30g Milk chocolate (we used Cadbury dairy milk chocolate) |
30g Dark chocolate (we used Lindt 70% dark chocolate) |
30g No sugar added milk chocolate (we used Woolworths Food Belgian Milk chocolate) |
30g No sugar added dark chocolate (we used Woolworths Food Belgian dark chocolate with cocoa nibs) |
Energy |
707.1 kJ |
661.5 kJ |
758.4 kJ |
607.2 kJ |
555.3 kJ |
Sugar |
16.6 g |
16.8 g |
8.7 g |
6.27 g |
0.12 g |
Fat |
10.8 g |
8.7 g |
14.4 g |
10.9 g |
10.89 g |
So, if you are looking to satisfy your sweet craving this valentine’s day, you will get the most health benefits from dark chocolate, not milk or white chocolate varieties. As a rule of thumb, the more bitter the taste, the higher the cocoa content. For the most health benefits, choose dark chocolate with a cacao content of 70 percent or more. Dark chocolate is still high in calories and fat and contains similar calories when compared to milk and white chocolate. Having it as the occasional conscious treat is fine, but it is definitely not a ‘three times a day’ food because it contains heart healthy antioxidants! Sorry we are not letting you get away with that excuse this time around!
Disclaimer: We did not receive any compensation in the form of chocolate or money, or anything else from any company or person for writing about these products. It was just used for comparison purpose.
Written by Salome Scholtz (RDSA) & Claudine Ryan (RDSA)