Sweet Deception: What Lies Behind the Chocolate Declared as 'Superfood'?

The great contribution of dark chocolate to our health is well known (or at least, to anyone who is passionate about and interested in the topic).

Numerous studies funded by chocolate manufacturing companies like 'Nestle' have attributed extraordinary qualities to dark chocolate, such as improving blood flow, aiding in combating various autoimmune diseases, and enhancing our cognitive function. Based on this, it quickly became labeled as 'superfood'. However, a study recently published by a special cocoa research center sheds a slightly different light on previous studies.

According to an article by Dr. Bat Chen Wolf that appeared on the 'Davidson Institute for Science' website, this study made a distinction between dark chocolate — the processed product through which we receive cocoa, and the raw material, namely natural cocoa beans without any human intervention. She states that although there is indeed a direct connection between cocoa and blood pressure treatment, "in most previous studies, researchers used cocoa itself and not chocolate, hence it is very difficult to recommend eating chocolate as a health food," writes Dr. Wolf. "Fresh cocoa beans are indeed very rich in flavanols, but in the process of making chocolate, they are destroyed, so in most chocolate bars there aren't enough flavanols to affect blood pressure."

And if you add to that the fact that in the finished product — the industrial chocolate we consume, there are enormous amounts of sugar, the conclusion is clear and unequivocal: yes to cocoa beans, no to chocolate of all kinds, even dark it turns out.