Healthy chocolate is here

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A new kind of chocolate has added substances that can lower cholesterol, but there may be a downside.
Plant sterols are naturally occurring substances that can lower cholesterol. There are already various foods that have them added, for health benefit, such as cream cheese (low fat!), milk, yoghurt and spreads. Now stanols have been added to chocolate. Indeed, chocolate already contains flavanols, which are powerful antioxidants. The new product also has added flavanols.

Doctors at Harvard Medical School give their view on the new chocolate. You need to eat two portions a day of CocoaVia, as the product is called. That's 200 extra calories and over one third of the daily recommended limit of saturated fat. That's fine, so long as you cut back somewhere else in your food intake - if you're watching your calorie intake. If you don't so this, then you might negate the benefit from the added sterols and flavanols. Other less calorific foods containing flavanols include tea, apples, raspberries and red wine. Dark chocolate - the darker the better - is also rich in flavanols and contains less sugar than milk chocolate. Studies have shown it has some health benefits, but it is still high in calories.

Source
Harvard Heart Letter 26th January 2006

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