Cocoa, Chocolate, etc.

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

Something prompted me to take a look at the fat content of chocolate

products. Here is some info that I found helpful and, some of it, a

bit surprising.

'Cocoa butter' seems like a good place to start. It is an ingredient

I occasionally see listed in various products and appears to be

simply 'cocoa oil' - in the same way that 'corn oil' is simply the

fat squeezed out of corn.

This conclusion is drawn from the fact that, according to

nutritiondata.com, one hundred grams of cocoa butter contains 100

grams of fat, zero carbohydrate and zero protein. Like some other

oils it also contains traces of vitamins E and K, and some

phytosterols.

Of that fat, ~25% is palmitic (likely not helpful); ~33% is stearic

(probably harmless apart from the calories); but the good news is

that the amount of lauric is zero, and myristic (bad news) is

negligible. Another ~33% is oleic (depending on who you ask either

somewhat helpful or somewhat harmful); and there is a small amount of

linoleic (probably quite healthy?).

Now, if you search nutritiondata for 'cocoa' there are ten items

listed excluding cocoa butter, those with a 'high fat' designation,

and excluding those with other stuff added - like sugar, coffee,

marshmallows, etc. Of those ten, fat calories as a percent of total

seem to range between 7% and 54%. So it does seem that even with

regular products it is possible to greatly limit fat content.

Of course the fat calories as a percent of total can be dramatically

reduced by adding sugar. So the more desirable cocoa products would

seem to be those with both a low fat content AND with a low ratio of

carbohydrates to protein. (I.E. those for which the carbs have not

been increased (and fat percentage reduced) by the addition of sugar).

One product listed as: " Cocoa mix, no sugar added, powder [hot

chocolate] " appears to be 7% fat and has 4.4 times as many grams of

carbs as of protein. Another is shown to have more than seventeen

times as much carbs as protein! Another, also listed as 7% fat, has,

in contrast, only 1.9 times as much carbs as protein.

Based on the above rather superficial analysis it seems that of the

regularly available products the last one may be the healthiest for

those who believe the ORAC value of cocoa is worth its caloric

content. It is listed in nutritiondata.com as " Cocoa mix, NESTLE,

CARNATION No Sugar Added Hot Cocoa Mix [hot chocolate] " .

Alternative views on this will be much appreciated. Thanks.

Rodney.