Dark Chocolate: To Eat or Not to Eat? A Review

Zugravu, Corina Aurelia; Oțelea, Marina Ruxandra

doi:10.1093/jaoac/102.5.1388

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Cocoa, the raw material for chocolate, is a dry, powdered product made from the beans of the Theobroma cacao plant. It contains various polyphenols (more than most foods, even tea and red wine), particularly flavonoids, with a subclass called flavanols (epicatechin and oligomeric procyanidins), which are biologically active and may thus affect human health [13,14]. The beneficial effect of polyphenols on health is thought to be associated with its high content of antioxidants.…”

Section: Chocolate Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is worth noting that the highest concentration of flavonoids and minerals is found in dark chocolate, particularly in 90% cocoa-containing chocolate [13,18,20]. That is why dark chocolate is preferred over milk and white chocolate [14]. It should also be emphasized that cocoa is a rich source of fibre (26%-40%), proteins (15%-20%), carbohydrates (about 15%), and lipids (10%-24%) [19,21].…”

Section: Chocolate Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A great amount of data suggests that cocoa has several important biological effects, mostly antioxidant, cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, and metabolic effects [14]. It should be emphasized that most of the health benefits attributable to chocolate are associated with consuming the dark chocolate [19].…”

Section: Chocolate and Healthmentioning

confidence: 99%

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To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

et al. 2020

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Migraine is a chronic disorder with episodic attacks, and patients with a migraine often report that certain factors can trigger their headache, with chocolate being the most popular type of food-based trigger. Many studies have suggested a link between chocolate and headaches; however, the underlying physiological mechanisms are unclear. As premonitory symptoms may herald migraine attacks, a question arises regarding whether eating chocolate before a headache is a consequence of a food craving or indeed a real trigger. Here, we aim to summarize the available evidence on the relationship between chocolate and migraines. All articles concerning this topic published up to January 2020 were retrieved by searching clinical databases, including EMBASE, MEDLINE, PubMed, and Google Scholar. All types of studies have been included. Here, we identify 25 studies investigating the prevalence of chocolate as a trigger factor in migraineurs. Three provocative studies have also evaluated if chocolate can trigger migraine attacks, comparing it to a placebo. Among them, in 23 studies, chocolate was found to be a migraine trigger in a small percentage of participants (ranging from 1.3 to 33), while all provocative studies have failed to find significant differences between migraine attacks induced by eating chocolate and a placebo. Overall, based on our review of the current literature, there is insufficient evidence that chocolate is a migraine trigger; thus, doctors should not make implicit recommendations to migraine patients to avoid it.

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Section: Chocolate Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Chocolate Compositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

et al. 2020

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“…It is important to point out that most chocolate is high in fat and free sugars, so should be consumed less often and in small amounts [6]. As well as dark chocolate is high in calories and can contribute to weight gain if eaten in excess [7]. It is difficult to be sure about the potential health effects and eating modest quantities may offer the greatest health benefits [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Evaluation of Dark Chocolate-Elicited Emotions and Their Relation with Physico Chemical Attributes of Chocolate

Bartkienė

Mockus

Mozuriene

et al. 2021

Foods

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of different origin (Venezuela, Ghana, Peru) dark chocolates on emotions induced for consumers, and to analyse the relationships among overall acceptability (OA), emotions, and physicochemical attributes of the chocolate (fatty acids (FAs) and volatile compounds (VC)). Chocolate-elicited emotions were measured with FaceReader 8 software, scaling 10 emotion patterns (neutral, happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, contempt, valence, arousal). The OA was carried out by using a 10-point hedonic scale, ranging from 1 (extremely dislike) to 10 (extremely like). The obtained results showed that, among all chocolate-elicited emotions, the intensity of “happy” was the highest. In most cases, the influence of the different origin chocolate on the emotions induced for consumers was significant (except on emotions “neutral”, “scared”, and “disgusted”). Significant differences between the tested chocolates OA were not found. The origin of chocolate had a significant effect on most of the identified VC and the content of the main FAs (methyl palmitate, methyl stearate, cis,trans-9- oleic acid methyl ester, and methyl linoleate). Significant correlations between chocolate-elicited emotions and separate FAs and VC were found. Finally, this study showed that the origin of dark chocolate significantly influenced most of chocolate-elicited emotions and physicochemical attributes of chocolate, while separate FAs or VC can be used as chocolate quality indicators related to the chocolate OA, as well as chocolate-elicited emotions.

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“…Chocolate as functional food or nutraceutical is due to the positive relationship between its consumption and its effect upon health. Chocolate containing cocoa in its composition has many health-promoting properties, including reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, cancer, neurodegenerative and central nervous system disorders, diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome [15,[17][18][19][20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of Yellow Tea Leaves Camellia sinensis on the Quality of Stored Chocolate Confectionery

et al. 2021

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Chocolate and tea leaves are considered the most valuable sources of highly bioactive polyphenols due to their potential anti-cancer properties and beneficial effects on the cardiovascular and nervous systems. The objective of the present study was the development of a sensory profiling modality that is correlated with the taste of the chocolate enriched with yellow tea phytochemicals. The additive concentration was optimized in white chocolate and the designed product was evaluated using the sensory profiling method. It was shown that the yellow tea extract in chocolate had a significant effect on the taste and color of the product. Addition of 2.0% yellow tea powdered extract increased the value of color acceptance and caused an intensification of the aromas, particularly the leafy taste, compared to the control samples. The next step of the study was to determine the influence of tea addition in white, milk and dark chocolate subjected to 6 months of storage. The designed chocolates were tested for their activity as antioxidants (DPPH, ABTS and ORAC assay) and cholinesterase inhibitors (AChE, BChE assay). It was confirmed that the yellow tea addition affected the activity of prepared chocolates with respect to radical scavenging activity and was highest for dark chocolate with yellow tea where the values were as follows: 4373 mg Tx/100 g (DPPH), 386 mg Tx/100 g (ABTS) and 4363 µM Tx/100 g (ORAC). An increase in the anti-radical activity of chocolate with yellow tea was found after 3 months of storage, but the subsequent 3 months of storage resulted in its reduction. AChE values ranged from 0.118 to 0.730 [µM eserine/g dw] and from 0.095 to 0.480 [µM eserine/g dw] for BChE assay. Total capacity to inhibit AChE and BChE differed depending on the type of chocolate and was negatively influenced by the half-year storage. Summarizing tested values for individual samples were higher, with increasing content of cocoa liquor and yellow tea extract in the product. The results of the research show that the use of yellow tea in confectionery is promising and may appoint a new direction in functional foods.

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Dark Chocolate: To Eat or Not to Eat? A Review

Cited by 11 publications

References 0 publications

To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

To Eat or Not to eat: A Review of the Relationship between Chocolate and Migraines

The Evaluation of Dark Chocolate-Elicited Emotions and Their Relation with Physico Chemical Attributes of Chocolate

The Effect of Yellow Tea Leaves Camellia sinensis on the Quality of Stored Chocolate Confectionery

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