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Dark chocolate · Theobroma cacao
Photo: (c) ritirene, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · via iNaturalist
Fruits & Vegetables
Dark chocolate
Theobroma cacao
The genus name means food of the gods, and for most of cacao's history it was drunk unsweetened and bitter. Eating it as a sweet bar is a European habit about two hundred years old.
Benefits
Cocoa brings both readings down by a small amount, and by more where the pressure started high.
What It Is Known For
No trial measured a heart attack or a stroke, only the reading on the day.
It counts solids, not flavanols, and the two come apart depending on how the bean was handled.
Nothing found tests it, and eating something you like is not a finding.
It is under 2 mmHg on average, and the reviewers noted the industry-funded studies reported slightly bigger numbers than the rest.
Key Active Compounds
The compounds that were counted.
What the percentage on the front refers to.
How to Take It / Use It
Eat a square or two of high-cocoa dark chocolate most days, in place of something sweeter rather than on top of it.
Cautions
It is still a confection, and what was tested was cocoa rather than a habit of eating chocolate.
Cocoa carries caffeine and theobromine, so a lot of it late will keep some people up.
Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, and dark chocolate is the worst of it.
Where It Comes From
Theobroma cacao grows in the shade of the equatorial forest belt, and the crop travelled from Mesoamerica to west Africa, which now grows most of it.
How We Choose It
We check every product so you don't have to. A dark chocolate only makes our list if:
- The percentage on the front is not what was measured. It tells you cocoa solids. What was counted is flavanols, and almost no wrapper prints those.
- 70% cocoa solids or more. The higher it goes the less sugar comes with it.
- Cocoa mass or cocoa liquor first on the list. If sugar is first, it is a sweet with cocoa in it.
- No alkalized or Dutch-process cocoa powder. The alkali strips out much of what was being counted.
If no product meets these standards, we don't list one. No exceptions for affiliates.
See our picks
Sources1
- Ried K, et al. Effect of cocoa on blood pressure. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2017. Cochrane review