Even if you are doing really well with a training programme, fat-burning or weight loss routine, you still need to treat yourself every now and then. Us Brits, like the Australians and even more so than the Americans, like to eat chocolate. In fact, at Easter (yes it’s approaching!) chocolate sales reach just under £500 million every year, but amazingly that is only 10% of the UK’s annual chocolate sales.

Nutrition and healthy eating writers often state that cocoa and in particular dark chocolate have many health benefits and thus encourage eating them. It is true that chocolate contains large amounts of antioxidants (flavinoids), which can be linked to helping to lower high blood pressure and reduce the clotting ability of the blood, therefore reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. The reason people say dark chocolate is more healthy, has very little to do with how much fat or sugar is in it, it is simply because, the darker the chocolate, the more concentrated the cocoa will be and thus the more beneficial the antioxidants and blood clotting reduction could be.

Fat and Sugar

Despite the supposed health benefits, do not ignore the obvious bad effects of chocolate. Cocoa beans contain approximately 50% fat, however, cocoa itself does not raise blood cholesterol, it is the addition of milk to make chocolate that does this. When consuming milk chocolate (where a part of the total fat content comes from the fat in the milk) cholesterol levels could well be increased.

So we know that dark chocolate is better in terms of antioxidants and blood pressure, we also know that dark chocolate is better for cholesterol as it does not contain as much (still some) milk fat. But what about sugar? Interestingly, the cacao bean itself actually contains only a small proportion of sugars in its relatively large amount of carbohydrates. The majority of the sugar in chocolate is added during the manufacturing process. Therefore, the best chocolate to eat is the dark chocolate with less sugar, yes the bitter chocolate!

Chocolate and the Brain

Chocolate does contain chemicals that effect our brains functions. One of these is phenylethylamine, which is a slight antidepressant and stimulant. This chemical compound works in a very similar way to the body’s own dopamine and adrenaline. Additionally, chocolate can increase the level of serotonine in the brain, interestingly, serotonine levels are often decreased in people with depression and even more interestingly in women experiencing PMS symptoms. So girls, when you reach for the chocolate at that time of the month, it really will make you feel that little bit better.

Vitamins and Minerals

Chocolate contains the following vitamins in varying amounts: A, B1, B2, B3, C, E and pantothenic acid. However, all these vitamins are available in other foodstuff, so eating chocolate to get these vitamins is not a good excuse, but they are another added bonus. A further bonus are the essential minerals also found in chocolate, including magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, copper, potassium and manganese, again, these are not exclusive to chocolate!

A final word

No matter how many “health” benefits we dig up and try to convince ourselves of when eating chocolate, the simple fact is that chocolate is fattening. Although it is true that these “health” benefits are better in dark chocolate, dark chocolate still contains a large amount of calories simply because of the large content of fat and sugar. (Actually, the sugar content in chocolate is far worse than the fat content in terms of negative effects on health).

In short, eat chocolate because you enjoy it, but eat it in moderation and when you eat it, either eat it as a reward for training so hard, or eat it knowing that tomorrow you are going to train that little bit harder to burn off the excess fats and sugars.

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