Many people think that chocolate, although yummy, is bad news for your health. But chocolate that’s high in cocoa solids (70% or more) has many qualities that are actually beneficial to health. Here are some of the choccie facts…

Vitamins and minerals

Chocolate contains essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A. B1, C, D, and E. Cocoa is also the highest natural source for magnesium. Magnesium deficiency is linked with hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, joint problems and pre-menstrual tension (PMT or PMS).

Better than tea

Researchers have found that chocolate may be better for your health than tea because it contains more catechins. These are chemicals that help prevent cancer and heart disease.

The research measured the amount of catechins - the chemical thought to be behind the benefits - in different types of chocolate. As the substance is also found in tea - the researchers recommend a cup of tea with a chocolate biscuit as one way to help maintain good health.

Tea was originally thought to provide the most catechins but it’s now proven that dark chocolate has four times as many.

Healthy fat

The fat in high quality plain chocolate (although technically a ‘saturated fat’) can be considered cholesterol free as it does not fur up the arteries or contribute to high cholesterol levels.

Improving women’s moods

It’s a pre-menstrual drop in progesterone levels which is responsible for the violent mood swings familiar to so many women (and their families). Adding magnesium to a sufferers diet has been proved to increase pre-menstrual progesterone levels, thus alleviating the problem.

Don’t like dark chocolate?

If you’re a lover of milk chocolate, make sure you’re getting at least 30% chocolate solids (or 30% chocolate butter if it’s white chocolate).

Avoid the cheap brands

Many cheaper brands are false economy, as they are high in sugar, saturated fats and other nasties such as HVO (hydrogenated vegetable oil), all bad for your health and your teeth.

Green chocolate

Research just out shows how chocolate lovers in the US are discovering how to satisfy their chocolate craving and help the environment by buying organic chocolate.

With $70 million dollars in sales annually, organic chocolate is but a drop in the budget of the estimated 46 billion dollars us market, but it is rapidly becoming mainstream. Consumption is soaring with an annual increase of 40%.

To be certified as organic the ingredients must all come from suppliers who don’t use chemicals and pesticides.