Chocolate is a dessert and snack food enjoyed the world over. Chocolate consumption continues to rise, and growth was particularly strong during the pandemic: sales increased by 11% in 2021. The intense love for chocolate around the world is in part linked to the diverse sets of compounds that comprise processed chocolate. While eating too much chocolate is clearly “bad for you,” because in so doing you’d be consuming too many calories and sugar, most research points to certain health benefits from moderate consumption of chocolate, particularly dark chocolate: the polyphenols and alkaloids are associated with a range of health benefits, most particularly cardiovascular but also mental health and cognitive functioning benefits. So, is chocolate good for you?

In this article, we will delve into how chocolate is made, the health benefits and potential risks of chocolate consumption, and ways to enjoy chocolate while maintaining a healthy diet.

How is chocolate made?

Cocoa beans are the main ingredient in chocolate production. A multistep process converts these beans into the chocolate we all know and love:

• Harvesting: Cocoa beans are found primarily in tropical areas inside pods. Originating in Central America, colonization by the Spanish saw cocoa production spread to other tropical regions, such as Indonesia and Ivory Coast. Once the beans are ripe, they are harvested by hand to a processing house where the cocoa beans are removed.
  
• Fermentation: The beans are left out under warm conditions inside large banana leaves or heated trays. This encourages an ordered microbial succession process featuring yeasts, lactic and acetic acid bacteria, aerobic spore-forming bacteria, and filamentous fungi. The process typically takes five to eight days, reducing the phenolic content and helping with flavor development.
  
• Drying: The fermented cocoa seeds are then dried through further exposure to the sun. This helps reduce the acid content of the beans and enhances the cocoa flavor. After about a week, the seeds become about half the original weight and are ready to be shipped to chocolate manufacturers.
  
• Roasting and winnowing: The dried, fermented cocoa beans are then roasted to make winnowing easier and sterilize the cocoa bean of fermenting bacteria. After roasting, the shells of the dried cocoa beans are ready to be pulled apart in a process called winnowing, which leaves the cocoa nibs to be sorted.
  
• Grinding: This step converts the cocoa nibs into unsweetened chocolate and chocolate liqueur using a rapidly spinning vessel.
  
• Blending: The final step of chocolate production features the mixing of all the ingredients that are added to unsweetened chocolate, including sugar, cocoa butter, milk, and compounds that create the chocolate scent. Emulsifiers called soy lecithins are also added to bind the cocoa solids, sugar, and milk to the cocoa butter.

The chocolate processing pipeline alters the composition of the raw cocoa beans in multiple ways:

• Polyphenol content: Cocoa is rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that procure many health benefits — including reducing the risk of certain cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and other diseases. The polyphenol content of chocolate depends on how much cocoa liqueur is added in the mixing step.
  
• Alkaloids: Raw cocoa seeds taste bitter due to the presence of alkaloids, naturally occurring organic compounds with at least one nitrogen atom. Methylxanthines — such as theobromine, caffeine, and theophylline — induce feelings of pleasure without the adverse reactions apparent with drug abuse.
  
• Fermentation products: The secret to chocolate’s attractive aroma lies in the fermentation process. Many of the hundreds of compounds contributing to chocolate’s taste are formed after the fermentation process. The sets of microbes used to begin fermenting the cocoa beans (also known as starter cultures) also impact its final scent. 

Is chocolate good for you?

Mainstream media has provided scores of articles discussing the merits of eating chocolate for a healthy lifestyle. The scientific literature also provides support for eating chocolate for the following medical benefits:

• Cardiovascular health: The consumption of chocolate and cocoa is correlated with lower diastolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. A 2015 systematic review and prospective study of 20,951 men and women determined that higher chocolate consumption was associated with lower coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and other adverse cardiovascular outcomes.
  
• Mental health: Chocolate contains several ingredients that can impact your mood. A cross-sectional study of 13,626 adults determined that eating dark chocolate is correlated with reduced odds of depression symptoms. A subsequent 2021 systematic review determined that consuming cocoa-rich foods can improve depressive and anxiety symptoms in the short term (i.e., for a few days).
  
• Cognitive function: Eating chocolate may also help keep your brain sharp in several cognitive tasks. In a 2013 systematic review of eight studies, three of them revealed clear evidence of cognitive enhancement when eating cocoa-based products. A later systematic review of 11 eligible studies also identified improvements in cognitive outcomes associated with improved blood flow to and oxygenation in the brain. The benefits of eating chocolate may derive in part from cocoa flavanols that improve visual contrast, motion sensitivity, and working memory. The methylxanthines in chocolate also improve mean response times. 

Is it bad to eat chocolate?

While there are benefits to eating chocolate, there are several health risks that come with it as well:

• Obesity: As the popular saying goes, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. Regarding chocolate, a 2013 prospective study determined that the more chocolate someone ate every day, the more likely they would see long-term weight gains. People who are obese are also more sensitive to chocolate odors, making them more susceptible to eating high-calorie foods such as chocolate. Obesity and overweight  increases the risk of other diseases such as CVD, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and certain cancers.
  
• T2D: The high antioxidant content observed in chocolate and its association with reduced insulin sensitivity makes it an attractive candidate for reducing the risk of T2D. However, the reduction of T2D risk was only observed for subjects who were young, male, normal weight and with no history of CVD or heart failure. Furthermore, the high sugar content in chocolate — standing at 77.6 g for a 162 g dark chocolate bar — may also increase the risk of T2D. High sugar content also increases the risk of headaches, likely stemming from disruptions in the regulation of blood sugar levels.

Do chocolate’s benefits outweigh the risks?

Our answer is a qualified “yes.” Eaten in moderation, chocolate does appear to confer certain cardiovascular and mental health benefits. However, risks of consuming excessive quantities are real. 

Plus, we need to bear in mind that that there are limitations in the current scientific and medical research: 

1. Many of the studies are limited to a short duration of 4-6 weeks, so the long-term effects of eating chocolate remain unclear.
   
2. The current literature also does not have enough research comparing dark chocolate’s benefits with other kinds of chocolates.
   
3. Many confounding factors can impact the data regarding chocolate’s benefits. These include other components of the participants’ diets, baseline health, environmental factors, and lifestyle.

How to enjoy chocolate in a healthy diet

Here are some specific recommendations that can help you feel good about including chocolate in your diet.

• Consider eating dark chocolate over other chocolates: The difference between dark, milk, and white chocolate lies in their cocoa and milk content. Dark chocolate contains the most cocoa and the least milk, while white chocolate doesn’t contain any cocoa solids. Milk chocolate contains high levels of both cocoa and milk. Many of the health benefits of chocolate come from the cocoa beans used to make dark chocolate.
  
• Integrate chocolate with fiber and other healthy foods: High-fat and calorie-dense desserts commonly add chocolate to enhance their flavor. However, many options can integrate chocolate with other healthy nutrients such as fiber and additional polyphenols. Consider a chocolate oatmeal recipe to make use of oatmeal’s high fiber content.

Key takeaways

Throughout history, humans have heralded the sweet, pleasurable taste that chocolate offers. Additionally, dark chocolate has been tied to many health benefits, including improvements in cardiovascular health, mental health, and cognitive functioning. Many of these benefits come from the cocoa beans used to produce chocolate, which contain polyphenols and alkaloids.  However, eating an excessive quantity of chocolate, whether pure or added to processed foods, comes with risks, including obesity and T2D. To best enjoy chocolate, consider eating only dark chocolate, in moderation, and with a healthy food option alongside it, such as an oatmeal cookie.

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