SOMO
Member
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2018
- Messages
- 1,094
For the last year, I've been eating a lot of chocolate, cocoa powder and chocolate liquor, as well as cocoa nibs.
The good news is that I seem to have suffered no ill-effects . My skin has always been acne-prone and there has been no negative (or positive) change in my skin since I began consuming large quantities of chocolate. Chocolate is sometimes associated with acne breakouts, but that has not been my experience. Chocolate is possibly Dopaminergic and increases dopamine, and when I eat chocolate I do feel a sense of mental pleasure and cerebral happiness, possibly indicating a slight elevation in dopamine.
Issues I believe exist with chocolate:
1. Fermentation
ALL chocolate is fermented. No exceptions.
"Raw" chocolate is a scam and if you look online for raw chocolate you will not find any.
Raw cocoa pods/seeds are inedible and largely flavorless. In order for the flavor to develop, the cocoa pods have to be fermented in open-air wooden containers. Bacteria break down the fibrous outer coating of cocoa and develop the flavor.
Fermented foods can possibly increase risk of gastric cancers as seen in some Asian countries like Korea where Kim Chi (fermented cabbage + capsaicin-peppers). As someone that LOVES sauerkraut, kombucha, beet kvass, kefir, etc. this was a major disappointment. I now limit these foods to some degree.
Gastric Cancer Epidemiology in Korea
2. Mold/mycotoxins.
Even with quality-controlled fermentation, most cocoa is processed outdoors, possibly introducing mold and/or mycotoxins into the final products. From what I understand of the chocolate manufacturing process, the cocoa is roasted before or after fermentation, killing most of the organisms. Even after the roasting stage, chocolate is later melted and heated. Generally the temperature is high enough to kill most pathogenic organisms and the possible mold issues have been acknowledged by the cocoa industry for many decades. I have faith that major chocolate manufacturers (Ghiradelli, Lindt, Hershey, etc.) have industry best-practices in place to avoid mycotoxins.
3. Lecithin
Lecithin is used an emulsifier in many chocolates, and most often this is Soy Lecithin or Sunflower Lecithin. (I personally believe there is no difference between Soy Lecithin, Egg Lecithin and Sunflower Lecithin.)
Lecithin increases absorption and adherence of PUFAs to Red Blood Cells (RBCs). This is probably only an issue if you're consuming lots of PUFAs, but...chocolate is often MIXED with PUFA-heavy nuts (chocolate+almond, chocolate+pecan, chocolate+peanut butter, etc. etc.) making the emulsifier a possible concern if you buy chocolate-covered nut products or eat nuts regularly.
4. Oxalates
Oxalates are physical gut irritants and can potentially create mineral-Oxalate stones (calcium oxalate usually) which lodge in the kidneys or joints. When I used to consume green smoothies daily, I first learned about Oxalates, due to joint pain I was getting whenever I used a large amount of spinach in my smoothie. I noticed that the joints in my hands (knuckles) hurt and it seems to have subsided since I replaced the spinach with other leafy greens.
It is possible that my gut is in better health than when I was consuming green smoothies and thus I am not reacting to the still-high level of Oxalates in chocolate.
5. Taste
The taste of chocolate can only be described as divine. Those prone to overeating and Binge-Eating Disorder/EDNOS/Bulimia can be triggered by chocolate. Pretty much everyone loves chocolate, and it can easily be over-consumed. Chocolate has a decent nutritional profile, heavy on the minerals, but if you're replacing more nutrient dense foods with chocolate, you could be causing nutritional issues in the long-term.
6. Fiber/Endotoxin
Cacao, cocoa and chocolate are all somewhat high in fiber. Some of this is insoluble fiber, but often times labels on chocolate products do not accurately break down how much of the fiber is Insoluble/Soluble/Starch. However, I have not noticed an increase in gas from chocolate consumption, leading me to believe the soluble and starch fibers are relatively low. Still, someone with SIBO or C.Diff or pathogenic overgrowth might produce more endotoxin from the chocolate.
7. Nutrition Labeling
Nutrition Labeling is often esoteric for chocolate products.
-Composition of the Fat breakdown in chocolate is mostly saturated, but I haven't seen much evidence for how much PUFA is in chocolate.
-Composition of the Carbohydrate breakdown (Insoluble/Soluble/Starch) is also unclear. I live in the US and maybe nutrition facts labels in other countries are more detailed.
If someone is trying to limit their soluble fiber and starch, they may not be aware of how much they're eating if they regularly consume chocolate.
8. Dairy/Sugar can aggravate acne.
Only applies to acne-prone people like me. Consuming darker chocolate (85% and above) reduces the possibility of acne breakouts.
__________________________________
Even with those potential issues, I still choose to eat chocolate because I enjoy it greatly. So what chocolate products do I eat and how much?
Product: Cacao Powder (less processed than Cocoa Powder.)
Amount: 1-2 Tablespoon daily.
Nutrition (1 tablespoon, 5g)
Calories: 15
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 3g
-2g Insoluble Fiber
-1g Soluble Fiber/Starch likely ???
---
Product: Chocolate Liquor (also called Chocolate Chips)
Amount: 2-4oz daily
Nutrition: (1 ounce, 28g )
Calories: 134
Fat: 8g
-Saturated Fat: 5g
-MUFA/PUFA: ???
Carbs: 18g
Fiber: 16g
Sugar: 2g (naturally occurring?)
---
Product: Cocoa Nibs (whenever I run out of chocolate liquor/chips)
Amount: 2-4oz
Nutrition (3 tablespoons, 28g)
Calories: 160
Fat: 11g
-Saturated Fat: 7g
-MUFA/PUFA: ???
Carbs: 11g
-5g Insoluble Fiber
-6g Soluble Fiber/Starch ???
----------------------
I've been eating both cacao powder and chocolate chips daily for the last year. I'm a self-admitted chocoholic. Ask me anything. I just wanted to inform people that you can be healthy and consume large quantities of chocolate and even in someone that is acne-prone and possibly oxalate-sensitive, this food can be a staple in the diet.
The good news is that I seem to have suffered no ill-effects . My skin has always been acne-prone and there has been no negative (or positive) change in my skin since I began consuming large quantities of chocolate. Chocolate is sometimes associated with acne breakouts, but that has not been my experience. Chocolate is possibly Dopaminergic and increases dopamine, and when I eat chocolate I do feel a sense of mental pleasure and cerebral happiness, possibly indicating a slight elevation in dopamine.
Issues I believe exist with chocolate:
1. Fermentation
ALL chocolate is fermented. No exceptions.
"Raw" chocolate is a scam and if you look online for raw chocolate you will not find any.
Raw cocoa pods/seeds are inedible and largely flavorless. In order for the flavor to develop, the cocoa pods have to be fermented in open-air wooden containers. Bacteria break down the fibrous outer coating of cocoa and develop the flavor.
Fermented foods can possibly increase risk of gastric cancers as seen in some Asian countries like Korea where Kim Chi (fermented cabbage + capsaicin-peppers). As someone that LOVES sauerkraut, kombucha, beet kvass, kefir, etc. this was a major disappointment. I now limit these foods to some degree.
Gastric Cancer Epidemiology in Korea
2. Mold/mycotoxins.
Even with quality-controlled fermentation, most cocoa is processed outdoors, possibly introducing mold and/or mycotoxins into the final products. From what I understand of the chocolate manufacturing process, the cocoa is roasted before or after fermentation, killing most of the organisms. Even after the roasting stage, chocolate is later melted and heated. Generally the temperature is high enough to kill most pathogenic organisms and the possible mold issues have been acknowledged by the cocoa industry for many decades. I have faith that major chocolate manufacturers (Ghiradelli, Lindt, Hershey, etc.) have industry best-practices in place to avoid mycotoxins.
3. Lecithin
Lecithin is used an emulsifier in many chocolates, and most often this is Soy Lecithin or Sunflower Lecithin. (I personally believe there is no difference between Soy Lecithin, Egg Lecithin and Sunflower Lecithin.)
Lecithin increases absorption and adherence of PUFAs to Red Blood Cells (RBCs). This is probably only an issue if you're consuming lots of PUFAs, but...chocolate is often MIXED with PUFA-heavy nuts (chocolate+almond, chocolate+pecan, chocolate+peanut butter, etc. etc.) making the emulsifier a possible concern if you buy chocolate-covered nut products or eat nuts regularly.
Dietary DHA-containing oils and crude lecithin have synergistic effects on increasing plasma and RBC n-3 PUFA levels, including DHA and EPA. By increasing the systemic availability of dietary DHA, dietary lecithin may increase the efficacy of DHA supplementation when their intake is combined
Dietary Crude Lecithin Increases Systemic Availability of Dietary Docosahexaenoic Acid with Combined Intake in Rats
4. Oxalates
Oxalates are physical gut irritants and can potentially create mineral-Oxalate stones (calcium oxalate usually) which lodge in the kidneys or joints. When I used to consume green smoothies daily, I first learned about Oxalates, due to joint pain I was getting whenever I used a large amount of spinach in my smoothie. I noticed that the joints in my hands (knuckles) hurt and it seems to have subsided since I replaced the spinach with other leafy greens.
As mentioned earlier, about 20-40% of the oxalates in our bloodstream come from preformed oxalates in our food. While oxalates are found in both plant and animal foods, plant foods have long been the research focus here since some plants have especially high concentrations. Among foods that we do not profile on our website, rhubarb is the most concentrated source of preformed oxalates and contains between 450-650 milligrams in about 3-1/2 ounces. Chocolate can also be a concentrated source, with the oxalate content increasing along with the percentage of cocoa contained in the chocolate. An average for 76% cocoa chocolate bars is approximately 250 milligrams per 3-1/2 ounces. But this amount can nearly double in a chocolate bar that is 100% cocoa.
Among foods that we profile on our website, the most concentrated oxalate sources (all listed in terms of milligrams per 3-1/2 ounces) include spinach (750-800 mg), beet greens (600-950 mg), almonds (380-470 mg), Swiss chard (200-640 mg), cashews (230-260 mg), and peanuts (140-184 mg). It is important to note that you will often find very different results in plant oxalate content due to differences in varieties, planting conditions, harvesting conditions, and measurement technique. It is also worth pointing out that the leaves of plants almost always contain higher oxalate levels than the roots, stems, and stalks.
It is possible that my gut is in better health than when I was consuming green smoothies and thus I am not reacting to the still-high level of Oxalates in chocolate.
5. Taste
The taste of chocolate can only be described as divine. Those prone to overeating and Binge-Eating Disorder/EDNOS/Bulimia can be triggered by chocolate. Pretty much everyone loves chocolate, and it can easily be over-consumed. Chocolate has a decent nutritional profile, heavy on the minerals, but if you're replacing more nutrient dense foods with chocolate, you could be causing nutritional issues in the long-term.
6. Fiber/Endotoxin
Cacao, cocoa and chocolate are all somewhat high in fiber. Some of this is insoluble fiber, but often times labels on chocolate products do not accurately break down how much of the fiber is Insoluble/Soluble/Starch. However, I have not noticed an increase in gas from chocolate consumption, leading me to believe the soluble and starch fibers are relatively low. Still, someone with SIBO or C.Diff or pathogenic overgrowth might produce more endotoxin from the chocolate.
7. Nutrition Labeling
Nutrition Labeling is often esoteric for chocolate products.
-Composition of the Fat breakdown in chocolate is mostly saturated, but I haven't seen much evidence for how much PUFA is in chocolate.
-Composition of the Carbohydrate breakdown (Insoluble/Soluble/Starch) is also unclear. I live in the US and maybe nutrition facts labels in other countries are more detailed.
If someone is trying to limit their soluble fiber and starch, they may not be aware of how much they're eating if they regularly consume chocolate.
8. Dairy/Sugar can aggravate acne.
Only applies to acne-prone people like me. Consuming darker chocolate (85% and above) reduces the possibility of acne breakouts.
__________________________________
Even with those potential issues, I still choose to eat chocolate because I enjoy it greatly. So what chocolate products do I eat and how much?
Product: Cacao Powder (less processed than Cocoa Powder.)
Amount: 1-2 Tablespoon daily.
Nutrition (1 tablespoon, 5g)
Calories: 15
Fat: 0g
Carbs: 3g
-2g Insoluble Fiber
-1g Soluble Fiber/Starch likely ???
---
Product: Chocolate Liquor (also called Chocolate Chips)
Amount: 2-4oz daily
Nutrition: (1 ounce, 28g )
Calories: 134
Fat: 8g
-Saturated Fat: 5g
-MUFA/PUFA: ???
Carbs: 18g
Fiber: 16g
Sugar: 2g (naturally occurring?)
---
Product: Cocoa Nibs (whenever I run out of chocolate liquor/chips)
Amount: 2-4oz
Nutrition (3 tablespoons, 28g)
Calories: 160
Fat: 11g
-Saturated Fat: 7g
-MUFA/PUFA: ???
Carbs: 11g
-5g Insoluble Fiber
-6g Soluble Fiber/Starch ???
----------------------
I've been eating both cacao powder and chocolate chips daily for the last year. I'm a self-admitted chocoholic. Ask me anything. I just wanted to inform people that you can be healthy and consume large quantities of chocolate and even in someone that is acne-prone and possibly oxalate-sensitive, this food can be a staple in the diet.
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