Eating sweets is always kind of questionable when it comes to health. This is primarily because sweets tend to be loaded with sugar. This is not always the case though. Some sweets like dark chocolate are actually healthy for you. They have a minimum amount of sugar and actually some vital nutrients, which gives them a pretty substantial health profile. Dark chocolate comes in a range of cocoa purity; the higher the cocoa content, the more nutritious the dark chocolate is.
Dark Chocolate Nutritious
Dark chocolate has a surprising amount of nutrients and health benefits that will make it your dessert or sweet snack of choice. A 100 gram bar of dark chocolate with a 70-85% concentration of cocoa has the follow nutrients:
- 67% of the recommended daily intake for iron
- 11 grams of dietary fiber
- 58% of the recommended daily intake for magnesium
- 98% of the recommended daily intake for manganese
- 89% of the recommended daily intake for copper
- Trace amounts of phosphorous, potassium, selenium, and zinc
- Healthy fats – monounsaturated fats, saturated fats, and polyunsaturated fats
- Trace amounts of stimulants – caffeine and theobromine
- Antioxidants – flavanols, polyphenols, catechins, etc.
100 grams of dark chocolate is actually an unhealthy amount of chocolate. It has 600 calories and a bit more sugar than you want to have. You want to make sure you eat dark chocolate in moderation to keep it at a healthy amount. It is also important to make sure you’re eating high quality dark chocolate. Purchase dark chocolate that has a cocoa concentration that is 70% or higher. The darker the chocolate, the less sugar that is inside it, and the more healthy it is overall.
