First, a little reminiscing from childhood...Spongebob fan anyone? Yes? No? I went through phases of it, and don't really enjoy it anymore, but this one episode still makes me chuckle.
Okay, now onto the important matters...
Short answer:
Yes! But it has to be dark, so, at least 75% cocoa. Why? Because the benefits come from cocoa, not from sugar. The higher the cocoa percentage, the higher the benefits.
Long answer:
Chocolate has long been said to have tons of benefits ranging from improving heart health, to benefiting the brain, and to being high in antioxidants. But yet, it's such a decadent, delicious dessert food.
So it makes people question, are the benefits too good to be true? Well, it depends on how bitter you like your chocolate...
Chocolate is technically a highly processed paste of roasted cacao seeds and sugar (typically). But getting to this point takes many steps.
Cocoa is the dark part of chocolate liquor, the result of grinding up cacao seeds. If you were to separate chocolate liquor, you would basically get cocoa butter and cocoa powder.
When making chocolate, the more sugar that's added to chocolate liquor, the more it displaces the cocoa (the healthy part). This is the difference in percentages.
White chocolate: 0% cocoa
Milk chocolate: At least 10% cocoa
Sweet dark chocolate: At least 15% cocoa, but typically around 15-34%
Semisweet dark chocolate: At least 35% cocoa, but typically around 35-49%
Bittersweet dark chocolate: At least 35% cocoa, but typically around 50% - 99%
Unsweetened Chocolate: 100% cocoa (1)
This is why looking at the cocoa % is very important, as chocolate can be considered "dark" at very low percentages and not actually contain benefits!
The higher the cocoa content, the better. Aim for at least 75%. I personally prefer 92-95%, but I like bitter chocolate and I've never been a fan of milk chocolate - waayyy too sweet for me.
Now we know what kind of chocolate to eat, but what's so great about it?
Polyphenols
Polyphenols are compounds with antioxidant properties. Antioxidants act against free radicals (or oxidation) in our cells, which promote inflammation - the source of many chronic ailments and diseases. Antioxidants are anti-inflammatory and prevent cellular damage and improve cellular health, which can positively affect nearly every system in the body (2)!
According to Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, polyphenols:
Boost the immune system
Protect against chronic and acute disease
Regulate enzyme function
Stimulate cell receptors
Modulate functions of inflammatory cells
Alter adhesion molecule expression
Affect nerve cells and cardiac muscle cells
Exert antiviral effects (2)
Here's where it gets awesome!
Cocoa powder contains a type of polyphenol called flavanols and it is the fourth richest source of polyphenols according to Nature's list of the top 100 richest polyphenol and antioxidant sources (3).
Keep in mind though, that this is per 100g of each food listed. It is likely that we would eat more fruits and vegetables (also rich sources of polyphenols) by weight than we would cocoa powder or dark chocolate.
Other rich sources include cloves, peppermint leaf, star anise, dark chocolate, flaxseed meal, black elderberry, sage, rosemary, thyme, black olive, blueberries, blackberries, and more (3)!
Gut health & Immune system
These benefits overlap a little bit. Polyphenols are also great for our gut bacteria because they act like prebiotics, which promote the growth of healthy bacteria in our intestinal tract. They also inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria (4).
Not only do the polyphenols have a prebiotic- like effect, but dark chocolate contains fiber as well, which is a prebiotic. So both the polyphenols and fiber in chocolate will help stimulate growth of healthy bacteria!
Additionally, having healthy gut bacteria is essential for proper immune function, along with a host of other benefits. About 70% of our immune cells reside in the lining of our intestinal tract and having a healthy gut microbiota helps to keep our cells working properly. It also helps to prevent "leaky gut", or intestinal permeability, which is now being more widely recognized by the medical community. If our intestinal lining is permeable, pathogens or toxins may be able to enter through this lining into the blood stream, wreaking havoc on the body, including negatively stimulating the immune system (5,6).
Heart Health
May Improve Blood Flow/Reduce Blood Pressure
The flavanols can impact another type of lining as well called the epithelium, which is the lining of arteries.
Flavanols stimulate this lining to produce nitric oxide (NO) - which can sound scary and chemically, but it's a good thing!
NO sends a signal to the arteries to relax, which reduces resistance to blood flow, reducing blood pressure.
The benefits, however, are mild, and one study showed no effect at all (7).
Increases HDL, Protects LDL from Oxidizing
For men with high cholesterol, cocoa powder was found to increase HDL and prevent LDL from oxidizing.
Oxidized LDL is when our "lousy" lipoproteins react with free radicals, which we already know are decreased by polyphenols, so this makes sense.
Dark chocolate also reduces insulin resistance, a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease (7).
All together, dark chocolate may help to decrease heart disease risk in general (7).
Skin Health
According to Healthline, flavanols can:
Protect against sun damage
Improve blood flow to the skin
Increase skin density
Increase hydration
Dark chocolate may reduce risk of sun damage as one study showed that those who consumed dark chocolate for 12 weeks almost doubled their minimal erythemal dose, which is the minimal amount of UVB rays needed to produce redness in skin 24 hours after exposure (7).
Brain Function
The increase in blood flow seen in other areas (heart, skin) may also apply to the brain! One study showed those who ate high-flavanol cocoa for 5 days had increased blood flow to the brain.
Dark chocolate also contains caffeine and theobromine: stimulants possibly responsible for short term increases in brain function (7).
Whew! That was a lot and I just scratched the surface, especially in the area of polyphenols, immune system, and gut health!
Conclusion: Enjoy dark chocolate, just make sure it is >75% cocoa. Keep in mind though, that, despite it's benefits, dark chocolate is still not a low-calorie food. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it on a regular basis, it just means it won't be beneficial for our weight if we have a lot of it daily. Enjoy and reap the benefits of dark chocolate in moderation.
Sources
1. How Chocolate is Made. Howstuffworks. https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/how-chocolate-is-made6.htm.
2. Ballantyne, Sarah. Polyphenols: Magic Bullet of Health Hype? The Paleo Mom. Nov. 5, 2015. https://www.thepaleomom.com/polyphenols-magic-bullet-or-health-hype/.
3. Pérez-Jiménez, J., Neveu, V., Vos, F.et al.Identification of the 100 richest dietary sources of polyphenols: an application of the Phenol-Explorer database.Eur J Clin Nutr64,S112–S120 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.221
4. Cardona, Fernando, et. al. Benefits of polyphenols on gut microbiota and implications in human health. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2013;24(8):1415-1422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2013.05.001. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0955286313000946.
5. Wu HJ, Wu E. The role of gut microbiota in immune homeostasis and autoimmunity. Gut Microbes. 2012;3(1):4–14. doi:10.4161/gmic.19320. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3337124/.
6. Ballantyn, Sarah. Gut Health Fundamentals. The Paleo Mom. July 23, 2019. https://www.thepaleomom.com/gut-health-fundamentals/.
7. Gunners, Kris. 7 Proven Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate. Healthline. June 26, 2018. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate.