Dark chocolate
Chocolate comes from cacao, which is a plant with a high level of antioxidants and minerals. Dark chocolate has a large number of phenolic antioxidants in comparison with different foods.
Regular milk chocolate contains cocoa butter, milk, sugar, and a small portion of cacao. However, dark chocolate has a lot more amounts of cocoa and less amount of sugar than regular milk chocolate.
Dark Chocolate Health Benefits
Nutrition experts say dark chocolate is specifically high in natural antioxidants and consuming modest quantities of dark chocolate may improve cardiovascular health and reduce stress. Milk chocolate does not offer the same level of benefit due to the high amount of sugar and less cacao.
Eating too much, even of a good thing like chocolate is not recommended so moderation is the key.
White chocolate is made from milk, sugar, and cocoa butter, without cocoa solids. Be sure to check the label before buying chocolates since the sugar content varies amongst chocolate manufacturers
Lily’s line of dark chocolate is sweetened with stevia and the sugar alcohol erythritol. Be sure to check the ingredients before buying any chocolates.
When you see a number like 90% on a bar of dark chocolate, this means the entire percentage of everything derived from the cocoa bean, cocoa powder, chocolate liquor, and cocoa butter.
Lindt 90% Cocoa Supreme Dark Chocolate has a higher percentage of cocoa.
References
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=dark+chocolate
- Dark Chocolate: To Eat or Not to Eat? A Review
- The cardiovascular benefits of dark chocolate
FAQ
When you see a number like 80% on a bar of dark chocolate means the chocolate is mostly made from the cocoa bean, cocoa butter, cocoa powder. Dark chocolate with a higher percentage such as 80% or 90% often contains much less sugar than other variations.
One suggestion is to choose a brand that doesn’t have sugar listed first on the ingredient listing.
It is better to buy chocolate with less sugar or sugarless chocolate containing other ingredients to sweeten it such as stevia.
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