Chocolate for chocolate's sake

Posted by Andrew Wadge on January 3rd 2008 in General interest

I’m just catching up with some press cuttings after returning from a cross-country skiing trip to Austria (incidentally, the amount of energy you burn allows you to really enjoy the hearty Tyrollean fare of knödels and gröstls – dumplings and roast potatoes), and I see there was a story before Christmas about chocolate no longer being 'good for you'. Chocolate, like red wine, is one of those foods we keep hearing are good for us, and then bad for us. The stories that try to persuade us that chocolate is good are based on flavanoids potentially having a beneficial effect on circulation. But the current issue of The Lancet says that many of our dark chocolates might not contain them anyway because of their bitter taste.

While there is some evidence to suggest that flavanoids may be protective against chronic diseases, such as heart disease, overall the evidence is inconclusive.

So even with this potential beneficial effect, and given the presence or otherwise of different amounts of flavanoid in chocolates, you’d have to eat quite an amount, depending on the brand, to get a benefit.

The Lancet editorial says: ‘Those who eat a moderate amount of flavanol-rich dark chocolate will have to balance the calories by reducing their intake of other foods.’

I suggest you follow my approach and remember that chocolate, like other foods and drinks high in sugar and fat, is fine to eat occasionally. Enjoy it in small amounts as part of a balanced diet rather than for its questionable health benefits.

Behold the Christmas miracle of antioxidants

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Lost treasure discovered

Posted by Fioana (not verified) on 12/01/2008 - 05:35

Chocolate as we know it contains very little cacao solids and is a puree of sugar and unreadable other stuff which is too small to read on the ingredient list.

Proper chocolate which contains no refined sugar and only the best fair trade and mostly organic sourced ingredients and has a cacao solid content of around 60% to 70% is available. And I have found the lost treasure!

I was google searching for a book I am writing and I entered Temptress and a detox site came up which has a chocolate bar named Temptress, wow! This was exciting there was Temptress and five more chocolate bars, I ordered them and they were delivered next day, pure luxury and excitement danced on my taste buds as I sampled each bar, I then went on to write a full chapter in my book

Confused student

Posted by Andrew Wadge on 10/01/2008 - 17:02

Dear confused student nutritionist,

I'm not surprised you and many others are confused by the conflicting advice on the apparent risks or benefits of individual foods that appear almost daily in the news. We all know the scenario: one minute butter is good, the next it's bad (and substitute butter for almost any other food you care to). So what's the truth? Well, I think there are two aspects to this. First, science moves incrementally and individual studies are often conflicting in their findings, whilst the popular reporting tends to focus on the latest individual study, rather than the broad consensus from the overall body of evidence. Second, the message on what constitutes a healthy balanced diet (compared with advice on specific foods) does not change from week to week and there has been a broad consensus for some time on what is a healthy diet.

In terms of the individual studies, I'm afraid there is no short-cut from critically assessing the specific study, taking particular note of issues around the study design and interpretation of findings. Having a look at who funded the work and whether it is published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal are also critical in determining whether to attach any significance to the findings.

Good luck in your studies!

Andrew

Confusion

Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on 07/01/2008 - 11:01

As as student nutritionist, I have found myself in a state of utter confusion. Not only are the general public confused, but I equally am, on what is good for us and what is not. Is what I currently learn from textbooks wrong, invalid and out of date?? I begin to wonder how much time I will have as a health professional when qualified to keep up-to-date with the new and conflicting science that is constantly being published. When questioned on media articles by family and friends, I never quite fully know how to answer them correctly as yes the article may have got it's information from a recent paper, but just how true and valid were their findings and how well has that journalist warped the message to create a juicy story. The only good advice I seem to be able to give anyone, is all things in moderation, surely there is more?