What Is The Healthiest Chocolate?
Chocolate is one of the most common foods in today’s diet. It is a product with good organoleptic characteristics. However, not all its varieties are the same when it comes to nutritional value. Therefore, it is important to know which is the healthiest chocolate.
Have you noticed that there are many presentations on the market? Which is the best option? So that there are no doubts, below we detail what should be taken into account when buying this food.
Unsweetened chocolate
When choosing a variety of chocolate it is important to take into account the effects of sugar on the body. This nutrient is capable of increasing the risk of obesity. It also has a negative impact on many markers associated with metabolic health, as explained in an article published in the journal Critical Reviews in Clinical Laboratory Sciences.
However, it is not a good option to resort to those chocolates that add artificial sweeteners to replace said carbohydrate. This class of substances are harmful to the intestinal microbiota. In addition, they are related to an increased risk of developing insulin resistance.
For this reason, the best strategy is to use chocolates that have a higher proportion of cocoa. In this way, it is positive to choose a product that has at least 75% of this substance in its composition.
Cocoa and its antioxidant capacity
Cocoa is a food that is characterized by its lipid and phytonutrient content. The latter have a high antioxidant capacity, according to a study published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
The regular supply of this class of nutrients is essential when it comes to preventing cellular aging. What’s more. They help reduce the risk of premature death, as well as the chances of developing diseases in the medium and long term.
Bitter cocoa is one of the foods with the highest antioxidant capacity that can be found in nature. Along with coffee and red fruits, they should be present in any varied and balanced diet plan.
However, we must not confuse cocoa with chocolate, as the latter product usually contains sugar in a variable proportion in its composition. Hence, it is essential to choose the variety that contains the least amount of carbohydrates.
White chocolate is not healthy
Among the offer of chocolate products we can find varieties with a poor cocoa content, which should not be included in this group. An example is white chocolate, composed mainly of butter and sugar.
It is a food of little nutritional value, whose regular consumption is counterproductive for the body. For this reason, its intake should be avoided as far as possible.
Another example is chocolate and nut creams. These are characterized by their content in industrial oils and refined sugar. They are foods with attractive organoleptic characteristics, but with little nutritional value. However, they are often too present in pantries, and children have access to them with relative ease.
Healthy chocolate: can be included in the diet
Chocolate is a food that is part of a varied and healthy diet. However, not all chocolates can be considered as such, nor do they enjoy the same nutritional properties. It is necessary to choose those that have a high percentage of cocoa in their composition, with a low presence of sugars.
Remember that artificial sweeteners are not a healthy alternative to high-glycemic carbohydrates. These substances usually cause a series of alterations in the microbiota that can negatively affect the main markers of metabolic health.
In addition, it must be taken into account that not all products categorized as chocolate have cocoa in their composition. At the end of the day, this last substance is the one that contains all the antioxidants and, therefore, the one that has beneficial properties for health.
Once we have chosen a suitable variety of chocolate, we can introduce it into the diet with some regularity. It is a useful food for snacks, as it combines very well with certain types of fruit and dairy products.
It is also useful when making desserts, although it is necessary to have quality ingredients to make them, and not to resort to large amounts of flour and sugar.
