SOME FACTS ABOUT CHOCOLATE

1) It's not up there with spinach, but dark chocolate is usually your healthiest bet. The darker chocolate is, often the less fat and sugar it has.

Plus, dark chocolate usually is least processed -- that means it has the most antioxidant-like flavonoids, which may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The higher the percentage of cocoa, typically the more flavonoids the chocolate has.

But don't eat lots of chocolate in hopes of better health. A serving size is about the same as a package of dental floss.

2) Chocolate does have caffeine. But if you're looking to get a caffeine boost, chocolate isn't your best bet.

You’d need to eat 14 regular-sized (1.5 oz) bars of  milk chocolate to get the same caffeine as you’d find in a 8-ounce cup of coffee! That would have about  3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar -- compared to only about two calories in black coffee.

Dark chocolate does have more caffeine than milk chocolate. Even then, it would take four bars to give you the same buzz as one cup of regular Joe.

Chocolate has hundreds of chemicals, and some work on the brain. According to some research, eating chocolate stimulates your brain to make opioid -- kind of giving  you a natural high that makes you feel happy like when you are in love.


3) Want to give your brownies or other chocolate baked goods a little extra chocolate-y goodness? Try adding a bit of instant espresso powder -- a teaspoon or less -- in your next recipe. Espresso powder can ramp up the chocolate taste in cakes, brownies, and cookies without adding coffee flavour or many calories.

4) Don't blame chocolate for your acne. Although diet -- especially greasy foods and chocolate -- are often blamed for breakouts, there's little proof that there's any connection.

However, people with migraines aren't so lucky. Their headaches may be triggered by certain foods. And chocolate is a common trigger.

5) All sweets are not created equal when it comes to your teeth. A piece of chocolate actually does less damage to your teeth than dried fruit because you eat it and it dissolves. Dried fruit -- and hard candy -- leave sugars that stick to your teeth.


It's always a good idea to brush after eating sweets to get rid of that sugar. If you can't brush, at least rinse your mouth with water and swish some sugar away.

6) Plain low-fat milk and low-fat chocolate milk have the same amount of protein -- about 8 grams in an 8-ounce glass. But chocolate milk has about 50 calories more per cup and nearly twice the sugar. One 8-ounce glass of chocolate milk mixes out your recommended sugar limit for the whole day!

Next time you want a chocolate fix, raiding the baking supplies in your pantry probably won't cut it. Baking chocolate is made from the finely ground centres of cocoa beans and no sugar is added. That's why it's bitter and called unsweetened chocolate.

Ready-to-eat chocolate can have lots of sugar. A plain chocolate bar, for example, can have 24 grams. That's about as much added sugar as you should have all day -- just in one candy bar!

7) Dutch-processed or Dutch chocolate is when cocoa powder or chocolate liquor has been treated to end up with a milder taste and a darker colour.

Dutch or alkalized cocoa is used in delicate, European-type baking. Natural, unsweetened cocoa powder is more intense and often used in brownies, cookies, and cakes.