You know I’m confused, if Dark Chocolate is good for us, then why did they take the cocoa butter out of some of their other products? I’m just curious how all these studies on healthy food and economic decisions all come together? I listed a previous post below as a reference.
Flavanols, is a different class of compounds in chocolate, and different than resveratrol. Great news but are economic decisions going to remove these beneficial products from what we consume, or is it back wine? BD
Hershey's Center for Health and Nutrition announced the publication of a study that shows resveratrol, the compound often associated with the health benefits of red wine, is also found in cocoa and dark chocolate products. In the September 24 edition of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Hershey scientists conducting a report that cocoa powder, baking chocolate and dark chocolate all have significant levels of resveratrol, a naturally occurring antioxidant.
Hershey’s Chocolate Makes an economic decision
Another economic decision, cocoa butter — the ingredient famous for giving chocolate its creamy, melt-in-your-mouth texture has been replaced with vegetable oil.
The FDA definition of milk chocolate requires cocoa butter, so changes have appeared on the labels of the Hershey’s products that have vegetable oil and now say “chocolate candy,” “made with chocolate” or “chocolatey.” Consumers didn’t like the new ingredient in Almond Joy, so the cocoa butter came back in that product, and there are some products that still have cocoa butter and one small bit of information is that it doesn’t raise cholesterol levels.
Not Just Wine - Dark Chocolate Has Healthy Resveratrol Compound Too | Scientific Blogging
First of all, Hershey's is not taking the coca butter out of ALL of thier products. And you will know which ones don't because they will be called "chocolatey" instead of chocolate.
ReplyDeleteSecond, the Antioxidents are not in the coca butter, they are left in the chocolate powder that comes from separating the beans. So white chocolate (coca butter with no powder) does not have antioxidents. So even the "chocolatey" products could have antioxidents.
Third, milk chocolate- which does contain the antioxidents- does NOT give you the value of the antioxidents. Calcium prevents the absorption of antioxidents. And of course, milk and all of it's bi-products have calcium.
Fourth, true "dark chocolate" is only "Dark" when there is no milk. You can have a 30% dark chocolate bar- it would be chocolate and sugar (plus vanilla and an emulsifier.)You can also have a 90% milk chocolate bar. It just means 90% of the bar is chocolate and the remaining 10% is sugar, vanilla, the emulsifer AND milk. (It wouldn't be very sweet.)
Fifth: So, here's the REAL scandal. Even Hershey's "dark chocolate" has milk! Yup, it's actually milk chocolate. Which means, even thier dark chocolate bars that are labled as full of antioxidents, are not actually giving you the benefits. (This even includes the new line of "Reserve Dark Chocolate).
In my opinion, the lack of coca butter is not the scandal. The mis-representation of dark chocolate IS the scandal.
By the way, the FDA does not define milk vs dark chocolate and therefore, Hershey's is not doing anything illegal calling its chocolate "dark." And, since chocolate contains antioxidents whether or not the your body absorbs them, the label is not illegal either. But I still think American's should protest this misleading campaign.
-Jesica, a tour guide for San Francisco's Chocolate Tour. www.gourmetwalks.com
Yes, when you want the real thing, that is what you want. I appreciate the detailed explanation here and it adds the full details into the entire scenario, I learned a bit here as well!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! Have you had a chance to watch 60 Minutes or Barbra Walters segments last weekend about it?
ReplyDeleteIt show promise in mice. For mice, has shown major health improvements including blood sugar control. Keep in mind that 6 out of 10 major drug successes in mice - fail in humans. But the limited human trials showed promise and there are some patients that claim it helps. However, this could be the 'placebo effect,' and only empirical data under controlled experiments can tell for sure. It will take a few years for these clinical trials to conclude.
You can get supplements of the extract right now. While it is safe, it is not guaranteed to work. Before making a decision, you should watch all the videos. Here's the a recap from all the trustworthy shows:
http://resveratrolcertifiedsupplements.com/?page_id=4
I did some research and learned the following: You can only get 1-2mgs of it in a single bottle of wine. So, white, it's a good excuse to drink wine, but you really won't get much benefit. There are resveratrol supplements on the market - but many do not have the required strength and they don't work for everyone. The only way to know for sure is to try the supplements. Hope you find this interesting... its a future hope for the fountain of youth and treatments (not cures) for countless diseases.
-Linda, the Good Nurse.