As a generally healthy eater, I have always enjoyed the said health benefits of dark chocolate. Though, as I thought about the cocoa treat more, I wasn’t sold on the idea that the dark chocolate is all that healthy for you. I decided to do some digging.
At face value, dark chocolate contains many great nutrients that are listed directly on the nutrition label. BUT, this only counts if the dark chocolate is made with a high content of cocoa. I found a layout of what nutrition a 100 gram of dark chocolate contains through a food nutrition site, Authority Nutrition, which is an evidence based site that lists all of the nutrition facts about foods that we consume on a daily basis. The site states that a 100g bar of dark chocolate contains about 11 grams of fiber, 58% of magnesium, and 98% manganese. To confirm these numbers, I went to another nutrition site, Self Nutrition Data, which is another site that states facts about the foods we consume, which confirmed that the same numbers were valid for a 100 gram bar of dark chocolate. Self Nutrition Data declared that the vitamin content for a 100 gram bar of dark chocolate included a 58% DV of Magnesium, 67% DV of Iron, and a 98% DV of Manganese.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/10638/2
Both websites matched with information about fiber content and calories. Comparing the two nutrition fact sites, the numbers are almost exact for each vitamin and mineral, therefore I think that the information is valid.
At face value, dark chocolate holds a large amount of vitamins and nutrients, as shown by the data from a 100 gram bar. Kris Gunnar’s article about 7 Proven Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate includes an interesting point, saying that 100 grams is a lot of chocolate to indulge in during one day, and that the 100 gram bar comes packed with about 600 calories. He suggests that dark chocolate is best enjoyed in moderation. That makes sense. Although dark chocolate comes with many health benefits, it also comes with not so great benefits (sugar, calories) that need to be split up between enjoyments.
With the nutrients that dark chocolate provides, is it possible that the cocoa-filled treat could cause significant changes in health?
In this particular context, the null hypothesis would state that dark chocolate would make no changes to a person’s health. On the other hand, the alternative hypothesis would state that the consumption of dark chocolate would cause significant health changes in an individual.
As I read up on this question, I found a study that suggested that dark chocolate can improve blood pressure by improving blood flow throughout the body. The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association studied for the effects that dark chocolate could have on blood pressure. The first study was conducted with 44 adults that all had higher blood pressure. The 44 were randomly given either dark chocolate or white chocolate in order to randomize and control for other confounding variables, such as health history and gender. The results of the study showed that over the 18 weeks over the trial, the people that were given dark chocolate had lowered blood pressures.
In relation to the File Drawer problem, which Andrew discussed in class, there is a possibility that the study may have suffered from it. The File Drawer problem is when a scientist puts all of the studies that show no positive results into a “file drawer” and do not publish them. Whenever a positively concluded study is published, there is always the possibility that there are other trials of this study with negative results sitting in a drawer within a scientists laboratory.
The idea of whether the previous study may have suffered from the File Drawer problem is further pressed when another study, published by Hypertension, a medical journal based around blood pressure and the such, tested for cocoa-enriched drinks having an effect on blood pressure. The study concluded that blood pressure actually rose when people consumed cocoa-enriched drinks over a period of time, causing the exact opposite effect on the blood pressure as compared to the first study I mentioned.
The bottom line is that if eaten in moderation, dark chocolate delivers many health benefits, such as large amounts of vitamins and minerals. In a question if dark chocolate can have a significant impact on health/bodily changes, it is possible pure dark chocolate can aid in lowering blood pressure, but drinks and other dark chocolate additives may not have the same effect. Many more studies must be done, and compared through a meta-analysis, in order to come to a more definitive conclusion to whether dark chocolate can cause significant changes of a person’s blood pressure.
Citations:
https://authoritynutrition.com/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate/
http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/207783
http://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/56/5/839.long#sec-9
http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-chocolate-dark-chocolate-70-85-cocoa_f-ZmlkPTE1MzQ2MQ.html
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/10638/2