Dark chocolate is such a healthy food that the University of Michigan Health System placed it in its Healing Foods Pyramid. The cocoa in dark chocolate includes antioxidants that reduce bad cholesterol, a monounsaturated fat that reduces total cholesterol and bad cholesterol, and the only saturated fat that doesn't raise cholesterol. Processing dark chocolate to make it less bitter makes the chocolate have more of the harmful types of saturated fat. Nondark chocolate does not improve cholesterol levels.
Significance
Lowering your blood's total cholesterol and bad cholesterol and raising its good cholesterol decreases your risk of heart disease. The U.S. government's National Cholesterol Education Program reports that low-risk cholesterol numbers are below 200 mg of cholesterol per deciliter , or 200 mg/dL, of blood for total cholesterol; below 100 mg/dL for bad, or LDL, cholesterol; and above 60 mg/dL for good, or HDL, cholesterol. Diet, activity, weight and many other factors can change blood cholesterol. Saturated fat harms blood cholesterol, but polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats improves it.
Flavonoids
Chocolate is a plant-based food. Its foundation is cocoa beans, and populations eating and drinking cocoa-based products have low rates of cardiovascular disease, according to "Dark Chocolate Could Guard Against Stroke," an article published by the National Institutes of Health. The antioxidants in cocoa are flavonoids that lower bad cholesterol and increase good cholesterol. They are found in apples, black and green tea, cherries, grapes, onions and strawberries, but "dark chocolate is the richest source," according to Harvard Men's Health Watch.
Oleic Acid
The mononunsaturated fat in cocoa is oleic acid, which is also in olive oil. People who live in areas near the Mediterranean Sea, including Crete, Greece and southern Italy, eat diets high in oleic acid and have low heart-disease rates. University of California-San Diego Medical School researchers aware of these facts found that Americans' total cholesterol and bad cholesterol levels dropped after they began eating a diet high in oleic acid, reported "Controlling Cholesterol The Natural Way." A diet high in oleic acid also didn't lower good cholesterol as often as diets high in polyunsaturated and saturated fats.
Stearic Acid
The saturated fat in cocoa is stearic acid. "Controlling Cholesterol" author Dr. Kenneth Cooper reports that coconut oil raises total cholesterol and bad cholesterol more than any other saturated fat, butterfat is the second-worst saturated fat and palm oil is the third worst. Stearic acid, which is in cocoa butter and beef, doesn't raise total or bad cholesterol at all. Beef, though, can still raise blood cholesterol levels because it also contains palm oils. Cocoa does not.
Expert Advice
Cocoa contains flavonoids, oleic acid and stearic acid, but there is a higher percentage of cocoa in dark chocolate than lighter chocolate. The latter includes cholesterol-raising fats, sugars and, sometimes, milk. White chocolate has no cocoa solids. The University of Michigan Health System urges chocolate lovers concerned about their blood cholesterol to look specifically for chocolate that is as dark as possible because "more flavonoids means darker chocolate."
References
- University of Michigan Health System: Healing Foods Pyramid
- National Cholesterol Education Program: High Blood Cholesterol
- "Controlling Cholesterol The Natural Way" Dr. Kenneth Cooper and William Proctor; 1999
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services: Dark Chocolate Could Guard Against Stroke
- Harvard Men's Health Watch: The Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate
- "The 8-Week Cholesterol Cure"; Robert E. Kowalski; 2004
