Opinion: Healthy Chocolate
The idea of chocolate being a health food has really taken root in people’s imaginations. It isn’t terribly surprising that the concept of a decadent treat being good for you has people excited and in the modern world of consumerism that means It will be in your face, every day, as more studies are completed and new products are announced. I thought I’d share a few thoughts on the topic.
As you can imagine, I’m watching it all with both great interest and great amusement. As a chocolate lover I would be overjoyed to find that my daily dose is, in fact, good for me. As an experienced consumer, however, I can’t help but be wary. I think that a lot of companies will want a piece of the chocolate pie and this will result in a glut of chocolate products, each with it’s own claimed benefits, and a massive amount of confusion for the consumer in general.
Of immediate worry is the always truthful but rarely honest packaging. Flavanol will be finding it’s way onto packages no matter how little the product actually contains simply because it is a word that will be in the consumer mind. Many won’t even bother with flavanol but simply try and sell based on a healthy image and the presence of chocolate. And I guarantee that products will be released that have many implied benefits but will also have the major drawback of being very high in fat and sugar.
That brings me to one of the bigger issues I have with selling chocolate as a health food: It’s chocolate. It’s high in fat. It’s usually coupled with sugar or, even worse, corn syrup. All the fat and processed sugar can’t be ignored. The problem is that when you are selling chocolate as a health food you are forced to either ignore them or remove them and I take issue with both approaches. One tries to sell a product loaded with fat and sugar as healthy and the other requires you to make major changes to the product.
And here is where my biggest issue with the marketing of chocolate as healthy arises. There will be a great deal of competition between companies trying to sell the ‘healthiest’ chocolate product. When it comes right down to it flavanol and polyphenols aren’t a lot to sell a product on, even with chocolate. Companies will need to differentiate their product from the others in the pack and, as chocolate is now perceived as a health food, they will naturally want to add more health benefits to do so. They will try and strip out the fat and sugar and add in vitamins and minerals until their product’s nutritional information reads like a box of breakfast cereal.
Fortifying a cereal isn’t a big deal. I can’t imagine there is a lot of art to puffed wheat or crispy rice and the addition of a multi-vitamin and some preservatives to the mix isn’t going to have that big an effect on the end product. Chocolate, and I can’t stress this enough, is not cereal. You can’t just hammer things into it and expect it to be good. There is an art to working with chocolate, which is why artisan chocolatiers exist. In the process of changing it they will produce a product that is far from fine chocolate. It will be the Wonder Bread of chocolate. It will have more vitamins than you knew existed and every mineral under the sun but just won’t be the same as the real thing.
In the end it doesn’t mean a lot for the true chocolate lover. They will continue to eat quality chocolate from quality companies instead of the mass-marketed pseudo-chocolate that is in our future. And I’m sure that there will be some companies that achieve a balance between quality and healthiness. I’m quite curious to see what some of the better chocolate producers around the world will create. They may manage to produce an excellent product with a myriad of health benefits without sacrificing everything that makes chocolate wonderful. Until then, I will maintain my skepticism and continue to watch.
Comments
doris davie Said:
my father is 82yrs old on Aug.26 he started eating HEALTHY CHOCOLATE and on Aug 28th the doctor took him off of his blood pressure meds. 2weeks later his blood sugar was also in normal range. it has been 6mos. and he has had 3 checkup and all were good.he is taking 1oz. of liquid cho. a day and both are in normal range.
Posted by: doris davie | March 12, 2007 8:55 PM
Reggie Said:
I see the post is a few years old. Have you ever tried or looked into Xocai chocolate. I think it tastes great. It has been processed in a way that preserves what cocao naturally has in it, but they don't pump it full of other vitamins. It also does not have as much of the the fat and sugar that normal chocolate has. I would like to get you take on Xocai.
Posted by: Reggie | December 19, 2007 12:58 PM
Jim Said:
I am a CHOCOHOLIC. I thank God that i finally found a truly healthy Chocolate, namely Xocai. In fact, I was taking two pills per day to control high blood pressure and i am now completely off my medication. Not only that, i have LOST 15 POUNDS eating Chocolate. It is true; whether you sign up under my downline or not; it is true! Everyone should be eating this product! Jim at ChocolatePartiesRus.com
Posted by: Jim | March 2, 2008 1:17 AM
Ted Lederer Said:
I agree. But not only is Xocai a great product William, I am going to be bold enough to suggest you look at the incredible opportunity to finance your dream of opening your own chocolatier with the profits made from your own distribution network of Xocai. In anywhere from 12 to 24 months, you can have a 5-figure monthly income coming in to help you build your dream, and we have just the team of successful distributors to show you how it is done. Please email me at chocolate@theworldsgreatestchocolate.com when you are ready to get started. Thanks William!
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