Is Hot Chocolate Bad or Good For You? Here’s the Research
It’s one of those headline-grabbing topics that shows up at least once a year, ‘hot chocolate is good for you’ – followed a few weeks later by ‘hot chocolate is bad for you’.
And these stories always make me *sigh*.
To me, it sounds unlikely that it’s either so terrible or a miracle cure-all – and if there are different effects for different people, is hot chocolate good for you if you’re a woman in mid to later life? I took a look around to find out exactly why we should (or shouldn’t) be drinking up.
Hot Cocoa: Good for You or Bad for You??
Going through the menopause, anything that helps (or doesn’t!) it’s worth knowing about.
So, what about hot chocolate? it seems to be a harmless drink… but is it? And, does it affect people like me going through the menopause in any way?
Ok, let’s check the delicious benefits of hot chocolate below
Great news! According to the North American Menopause Society, there are perks beyond that unbeatable rich taste. The main benefits of cocoa put forward by NAMS and others include:
- Antioxidant effects – could hot chocolate fight off free radicals and help your immune system?
- Lower blood pressure – high blood pressure can strike during the menopause but experts say even the smallest change can lift your heart health
- Decreased insulin resistance – can cocoa pep up your metabolism when you need it most?
- Better memory – ageing can affect memory, but tests showed cocoa could turn back the clock
- Lower stroke risk – menopause is linked to increased risk of stroke, so this is definitely worth checking out
Are the benefits of hot cocoa too good to be true? Can cocoa really do all these things? Can something so delicious bring health benefits to the table?
Hot Chocolate Benefits: Is Hot Chocolate Good for You?
Benefits of Hot Chocolate Put to the Test
They’ve got my attention! And as it happens, some nutritionists are interested too.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition carried out a study named CocoA, Cognition, and Aging (or, rather delightfully… CoCoA) to find out if hot chocolate had any health benefits.
A group of older participants undertook the onerous task of drinking one cocoa per day. They sipped for eight weeks, with each drink containing a set amount of dairy and set level of flavanols – thought to give cocoa its magical powers.
“Cacao has more flavonoids than most other plants, and its specific flavonoids are rarely found in other plants.” [Source]
Results seems to show that hot chocolate could improve the metabolism and blood pressure – two areas of concern for a lot of women dring and post-menopause.
And it looks like cocoa can boost cognitive function that’s been affected by age – according to the researchers, this could be because the drink increased blood flow or sparked the right area of the brain.
That’s not all. Cocoa’s polyphenols (also found in the likes of green tea) could help improve mood, according to a 2013 controlled trial.
But just to clarify, they’re all talking about pure cocoa itself. NAMS point out that chocolate bars loaded with sugar and goodness-knows-what won’t do your health any favours.
What’s In Your Cup?
That probably means a sweet coffee shop hot chocolate topped with cream and marshmallows won’t pass muster either…
Action on Sugar pointed out just how much sugar is in a chain café hot chocolate, among other things, and let me warn you, if you’re midway through a mugful you may want to read this later.
Take a look at the list and you’ll see a Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolate comes out at 60 grams or 15 tsp sugar – though they’ve chosen to list the huge Venti size. A Tall Hot Chocolate made with nonfat milk and no added cream comes out at 32 grams – better, but still not great (source here).
And if your hot chocolate contains trans fats (including anything hydrogenated), that drink could actually be raising your cholesterol – the Mayo Clinic explain why you don’t want them in your diet.
The Nitty Gritty – Cocoa Content
So how do you make your cocoa count?
According to the University of Adelaide’s trials“[even] small reductions in blood pressure substantially reduce cardiovascular risk” so even if your cocoa hakes a tiny impact, it could add up to a healthier whole.
Bioidentical Hormone Health have rounded up the numbers you need to make your chocolate treats healthier too. Talking all things chocolate, not just the liquid variety, they say you should seek at least a 70-85% cocoa content to benefit from fibre, iron, potassium, zinc and other goodies.
But it’s not just cocoa content that matters.
The University of Adelaide also think processing plays a big part in releasing chocolate’s health benefits, with 10% flavanol content found in a natural cocoa bean brought down to almost nothing by chocolate-making and Dutch processing.
So far, so good, but here’s an unexpected factor to throw a spanner in the works. The University of California, Berkeley Wellness, recommend using cocoa in food and as a drink to get the full benefits of flavanols but here’s the thing:
They say that the purer the cocoa, the higher the potential levels of cadmium, which we should try to keep down – luckily they reassure us that it’s still fine to consume if we don’t take it to extremes! (source here).
Is Hot Cocoa Good for You if You’re Going Through the Menopause?
Is Drinking Hot Chocolate Healthy for Women Going through the Menopause?
Unfortunately, it looks like there’s a reason why women in midlife and beyond specifically might want to keep hot chocolate to an occasional treat – at least while uncomfortables signs of menopause are at their peak.
In BBC Good Food, nutritionist Jo Lewin recommends cutting out stimulants like caffeine, alcohol and, yes, chocolate in a bid to ease hot flashes. In that case, it seems like cocoa itself could be linked to an irritating sign of the menopause.
The Pros and Cons of Hot Cocoa Drinks
It looks like some experts have tested the rumoured benefits of hot chocolate and found out that cocoa drinks could be healthy in midlife and beyond.
But as we’ve seen, that’s not the whole story. In this hot chocolate drinker’s opinion, there are plenty of points weighing for and against this unlikely health food.
Pros
- There’s a chance it could provide benefits by improving heart health, lowering stroke risk, helping memory and more – all health issues associated with menopause
- It’s easily available, though you might need to shop around to find the right product for you
- The bottom line – hot chocolate can be made without ingredients which definitely don’t add to its health value, like sugar or highly processed additives
Cons
- You probably can’t get away with picking up a typical ready-to-drink or coffee shop hot chocolate and call it a superfood
- According to some experts, you shouldn’t drink too much so you may want to count your cups
- Some nutritionists think chocolate’s stimulating effect could fuel uncomfortable signs of menopause like hot flashes
On balance, I think I’ll be treating hot chocolate as two different drinks… One made with attention to all the details of processing and bean origins, that tastes good and may even come with health benefits if I’m lucky.
And another that’s the equivalent of a cake or ice cream, perhaps with a trace of those all-important nutrients remaining into the mix but likely outweighted by the other stuff.
What You Need to Know Before You Pour…
Down to the big question then, is hot chocolate good for you? From the information I’ve found, it could feed the signs of menopause for some women but it can be a healthy choice for others, if it’s made right – some hot chocolate drinks are still in the less-than-healthy camp though.
All this talk has left me craving a mug of hot chocolate, so this will be my checklist for the next cocoa drink I mix up:
- Look for a cocoa content of 75% or more.
- Use less highly processed cocoa.
- Avoid the usual unhealthy additions like sugar.
- Check the ingredients for trans fats.
- Don’t drink extreme quantities (easier said than done!)
And a tip of my own, if you’re going to drink hot chocolate for health or any other reason, remember to enjoy it!
Have you tried to make your cocoa drinks healthier? Let us know how it worked for you!
Recommended
Wild Dark Chocolate Powder
Wild’s cocoa powder is non-Dutch processed, created instead using the natural method of a hydraulic press to preserve more of the antioxidants and minerals.
Gosh, that sounds fascinating, doesn’t it? A fascinating manufacturing process may not be the feature you use to choose a cocoa powder though, so here’s the foodie stuff.
This chocolate powder contains nothing but Peruvian cocoa powder made from cacao beans sourced from the Southern Andes. And the good news for allergy sufferers is that it’s also free from milk and eggs, tree nuts and peanuts, fish and shellfish, soy and wheat.
Indigo Nutrition – Raw Organic Peruvian Cacao Powder
Sitting in the health foods department, this is a raw organic cacao powder from Glastonbury, UK-based Indigo Herbs.
It’s vegan, gluten free and certified organic, which is great as it’s suitable for a range of diets. And it looks like these guys know their stuff, with this Peruvian-origin Theobroma cacao powder comprising a carefully selected blend of 70% Criolla beans and 30% Forastero and Trinitario beans.
According to Indigo Nutrition, this powder is “100% pure, raw, unheated and untreated” too, which is said to help preserve nutrients.
Having looked at the differences between cocoa and cacao, it looks like there’s no straight choice, at least for my own kitchen cupboard. As well as preserving nutrients, it can taste bitter and LiveStrong say that it can cause “caffeine jitters” or other adverse effects if you eat too much.
At the time of writing this, the product is only available in Amazon UK.
Ghirardelli Chocolate Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
San Francisco’s iconic chocolate manufacturer, Ghirardelli, make all kinds of hot chocolate mixes ranging from luxurious to seasonal to simple. This powder is aimed at home bakers, but it’s gained a big following among home hot chocolate makers.
Ghirardelli is far bigger than most of the health food store cocoa brands so I expected this powder to be more intensively processed but maybe I was hasty?
It turns out that this unsweetened cocoa powder isn’t Dutch processed, so according to the experts we heard from earlier, that could mean it holds onto its health-giving nutrients.
NibMor Organic Six Spice Drinking Chocolate
Also available in original flavour, this organic drinking chocolate really caught my attention thanks to its spice blend, which put me in mind of the old Mayan and Colonial recipes.
Not just that – purely from a taste and convenience point of view, there aren’t many flavoured, sachet-portioned chocolate powders that tick the healthier boxes. NibMor’s recipe is free from refined sugar, organic and GM-free to match the company’s healthy living philosophy.
The only downside is that with high cocoa content and select ingredients going into the mix, NibMor’s pricing is inevitably higher. If you look at this chocolate mix as an alternative treat to a sugar-heavy coffee shop drink, it takes the edge of a bit.
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE. HERE’S A MINT FLAVOURED NIBMOR OPTION IF INTERESTED.
Is Hot Cocoa Good for You?
I really hope the above information has helped you make a decision. And although it is mainly aimed at women going through the menopause I hope it gives a good overview regarding the benefits of cocoa powder in general and how good is drinking hot chocolate to all who have read it.
You can read the related article Disadvantages of hot chocolate.
