Dark and in moderation, chocolate is good for you.

For years it was your favorite food. Then everyone said that chocolate was bad for you. For decades, it occupied the “least recommended” tip at the top of the food pyramid. After avoiding it for years—or feeling guilty whenever you indulged—chocolate’s reputation has taken a 180-degree turn. Suddenly it’s America’s hot new health food.

Research Backs Chocolate's Benefits

Researchers tell us that dark chocolate may protect the heart, reduce blood pressure, improve circulation, lower cholesterol, balance blood sugar, and help treat diabetes. In addition to all these benefits, research shows that chocolate doesn’t cause most of the problems for which it’s been blamed, such as skin breakouts, tooth cavities, and hyperactivity. It’s the other ingredients in chocolate—such as sugar and fat—that can cause these problems.

Chocolate is rich in minerals, antioxidants, flavonoids, and other components that improve our teeth, mental focus, alertness, and mood.

Cocoa beans can treat diarrhea. Cocoa powder and extracts may even help prevent cancer.

Too good to be true, right? There has to be a catch. There is: None of these benefits applies to the sugar, corn syrup, or hydrogenated fats that usually accompany chocolate. Nor do the benefits apply to milk chocolate.

For health, choose dark chocolate—the darker, the better. And more is not necessarily better. Most experts recommend only small daily doses.

The Basics

Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, a seed in the fruit of a tree grown and revered by the ancient Mayans and Aztecs. After cacao beans are dried, fermented, and roasted, the nibs (pieces of peeled beans) are ground to produce a dark, pasty chocolate “liquor,” the basic ingredient for all processed chocolate products.

Chocolate liquor is approximately 55 percent cocoa butter, a mostly saturated fat that, because of its high stearic acid content, does not raise serum cholesterol levels.

The “purest” processed chocolate is unsweetened chocolate, which consists of chocolate liquor that has been cooled and formed into bars.

Cocoa powder is made by feeding chocolate liquor through a press to remove most of its cocoa butter. Bittersweet and semisweet chocolates (the terms are used interchangeably) must contain at least 35 percent chocolate liquor, though most brands contain close to 50 percent, and a growing number of “high-percentage” chocolates contain 70 percent or more.

The higher the chocolate percentage, the lower the sugar content. Sweet dark chocolate contains at least 15 percent chocolate liquor, and its sugar content is often more than 60 percent.

Milk chocolate, the traditional “candy bar” chocolate, contains at least 10 percent chocolate liquor and 12 percent milk solids. White chocolate contains no cocoa solids, so it is technically not considered chocolate. Government standards for “white chocolate” require the product to contain at least 20 percent cocoa butter.

The Dark Side

Why is dark chocolate so good for you?

Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants that protect the cardiovascular system, and dark chocolate has almost five times the flavonoid content of apples.

When researchers in Greece tested the effects of dark chocolate on three determinants of cardiovascular performance, they concluded, “Chocolate consumption may exert a protective effect on the cardiovascular system.”

Now that dark chocolate is getting such good press, several high-percentage products are being developed. In natural food stores, the buzz is organic. The latest chocolate trend is raw, unprocessed chocolate, such as the raw organic cacao beans or nibs and raw cocoa powder sold in natural food stores.

For maximum health benefits and an intense chocolate experience, David Wolfe, author of Naked Chocolate: The Astonishing Truth about the World’s Greatest Food, recommends eating raw cacao straight, one bean or nib at a time, blending beans or nibs in smoothies adding them to herbal teas crushing them before adding to frozen yogurt or ice cream blending them with a natural sweetener and nuts for a homemade “true chocolate” confection.

Unlike commercially processed cacao beans, which Wolfe warns contain fewer nutrients and are more likely to result in allergic reactions or intense cravings, raw organic cacao beans are his favorite food.

Even if they don’t become yours, you can make informed decisions about chocolate by focusing on low-sugar, dairy-free organic products containing more than 70 percent cacao for an occasional guilt-free indulgence.

Buyer Beware

Many designer chocolates, as well as “good for you” chocolate bars from mainstream candy makers, contain milk, sugar, and/or hydrogenated oils, all of which can dilute chocolate’s healthful ingredients. This, of course, reduces chocolate’s benefits, while adding calories and dubious refined carbohydrates.

Even without these additions, chocolate isn’t for everyone. It contains caffeine and theobromine, both of which are stimulants. Chocolate is famous as a migraine headache trigger, and it can aggravate rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder, or RBD, a rare condition in which people unknowingly act out violent nightmares.

Worst of all for pet owners, chocolate is fatal to man’s best friends. Dogs, cats, and other animals have a toxic reaction to chocolate’s theobromine and caffeine. For them, dark chocolate (the best kind for humans) is the most dangerous. Keep this treat away from animals, and call the vet immediately if your pet swallows chocolate.

A fermented dairy product, kefir is rich in antioxidants as well as lactobacilli and bifidus bacteria. The word "kefir" comes from the Turkish word keif, which means "feeling good." While many Americans pronounce the word as "KEE-fer," the correct way to pronounce it is "kuh-FEAR."

Kefir outperforms yogurt in both CFU (colony forming units) and the number of strains of probiotics it offers. Each cup of kefir may contain up to 12 different strains of live, active cultures. These strains of good bacteria can help cure recurring Clostridium difficile infections (the diarrhea-causing bacteria that plagues hospital patients), reduce the duration of respiratory infections in the elderly, protect the body from toxins, relieve cold and flu symptoms in children, and fight yeast infections.

This tangy, thick beverage also contains active yeast and bacteria to aid digestion, encourage gut health, and help keep weight int check. Probiotics are recommended for anyone taking antibiotics, which destroy beneficial as well as harmful bacteria.

According to Andrew Weil, MD, kefir may be a better choice than yogurt for some lactose-intolerant individuals.

Navigating through a sea of information can be tricky. This is especially true when it comes to celiac disease, where there seems to be a constant flow of new studies and research. To help you with the latest developments, we’ve answered some common and not-so-common queries.

Common Questions About Celiac

I was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. Do I need to worry about gluten-containing ingredients in the body care and makeup products that I use?

Research has shown that gluten molecules are too large to penetrate intact skin. However, there are some people with celiac or gluten sensitivities who avoid any skin care items or makeup products that contain gluten on the chance that it may irritate their skin or accidentally be swallowed. (This is a particular concern with lip balms, lip glosses, and lipsticks.) Fortunately, there are many natural skin care and makeup manufacturers that avoid gluten as well as other common allergens in their product lines. Be sure to check labels every time before purchasing, as formulations may change.

If I have celiac disease, do I need to worry about feeding gluten to my baby girl? Will her avoiding it help prevent the disease?

It was believed that if gluten was introduced later on in a genetically susceptible child, the risk of developing the disease could be reduced. However, new data from randomized clinical trials shows that children who are genetically susceptible to celiac disease who were introduced to gluten later on simply developed the disease later on.

Michelle Pietzak, MD, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, advises that genetic testing be considered before introducing gluten to infants with a celiac sibling or parent. While not all experts agree on delaying gluten if the baby has a high genetic risk, you may want to wait to introduce it—or avoid it altogether. Delaying gluten until the child is 2 won’t prevent the disease, but it will delay its onset during important growth periods.

It’s interesting to note that if a baby has high-risk genes for celiac disease, breastfeeding won’t protect her. It can help protect against a wheat allergy, however, as babies who are breastfed tend to have fewer allergies.

Are there new tests coming out to determine if someone has celiac disease? What about testing for non-celiac gluten sensitivity?

There’s a new blood test being developed at Norway’s University of Oslo for celiac disease. It will work even when individuals are on a gluten-free diet by detecting special gluten-reactive T-cells in the body. Those with celiac disease have greater numbers of these T-cells, even when they eat gluten free. Later this year a preliminary clinical trial on the testing should be complete.

Researchers are getting closer to identifying markers for gluten sensitivity in the body. A study from the University of Bologna in Italy indicates that those who are gluten-sensitive may have high levels of zonulin—a molecule linked to inflammation. Preliminary results find that levels of zonulin in gluten-sensitive individuals nearly match those who have celiac disease. This is a promising start for developing tests to diagnose non-celiac gluten sensitivity in the future.

Should I be taking probiotics if I have celiac disease? Which ones would work best?

When unresolved issues are present (abdominal discomfort, bloating, occasional constipation or diarrhea), a probiotic may help, according to Stefano Guandalini, MD, an expert in celiac disease and founder and medical director of the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center. Research suggests that the strain Bifidobacterium breve may reduce inflammatory markers in children with celiac disease. Bifidobacterium infantis may lessen some symptoms of the disease in adults. 

Carefully read labels or contact the manufacturer, as not every product is gluten- or allergen-free. Inquire with the manufacturer whether any of the bacterial strains in the probiotic supplement were grown on a gluten-containing grain such as wheat or barley. Instead of—or in addition to—probiotics, you may also want to consume fermented foods containing live cultures (yogurt, kefir, miso, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kimchi). These items can be good gluten-free sources of probiotics.

Black seed (Nigella sativa), also known as black cumin, is a flowering plant native to southwest Asia. It’s been used in traditional medicine for centuries to fight conditions such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory diseases, and more.

The most prominent constituent of Nigella sativa’s volatile oil is thymoquinone (TQ), which has been researched extensively since 1960. Studies indicate that TQ plays an antioxidant role that bolsters immunity. It also shows promise in the fight against many cancers, including those of the lung, kidney, liver, prostate, breast, cervix, and skin.

In vitro and in vivo research finds a positive correlation between TQ concentrations and anticancer activities, including the ability to modulate signaling pathways responsible for cancer progression as well as the ability to induce apoptosis. 

Lose Weight with Black Cumin Oil

In addition to its amazing disease-fighting properties, black cumin offers weight-loss potential.

Taking black cumin oil for eight weeks helped a group of overweight women shed more pounds than those who took a placebo. Both groups were on similar weight-loss diets.

The black cumin group also saw greater reductions in markers of inflammation. Obesity and inflammation are known to be linked.

The women, ages 25 to 50, took 1-gram capsules of black cumin oil or a placebo 30 minutes before each meal for a total of 3 grams daily. Those in the black cumin group lost about 6 percent of their body weight in eight weeks, while the control group lost about half as much.