They say chocolates are guilty pleasures, but when you think about the health benefits, they are not so sinful at all. Dark chocolate and milk chocolate are two of the world’s famous and well-loved chocolate types. The dark one has at least 60% more cocoa than the white one. However, this is not where their dissimilarities stop.
Components
Both chocolates are made with cocoa, which has flavonoids that are known as flavan-3-ols, procyanidins, and epicatechins. All these three act as antioxidants that help protect the body. When the cocoa content is higher in the chocolate, you can already discern that the flavonoids are much higher as well. When it comes to how the two are made, dark chocolate has small sugar content and vanilla. It also has cocoa liquor, powder, and butter. On the other hand, milk chocolate has the same ingredients, but has more sugar and milk.
Health Benefits
The battle between dark and milk chocolate all boils down to the possible health benefits. Flavonoids are said to have the ability to lower blood pressure, while increasing the good cholesterol in the body. It also reduces the risk of blood clotting and improves performance of the brain. If you are feeling down, flavonoids can help pick you up and even sustain the flexibility of your blood vessels. Flavonoids are also believed to be effective in fighting off certain cancers. Since dark chocolate has more flavonoid content, you can say that this has more benefits than milk chocolate.
More Comparisons
If you’re indulging in chocolate, you may not want to know the calorie content of what you’re eating. However, it is still important to know that half a bar of chocolate contains more calories (242 grams) than milk chocolate (219 grams). With fat content, dark chocolates win, too with 26% fat, while milk chocolate only has 18%. You may want to look at the label of the chocolate you’re eating, since they vary depending on the brand.
Dark chocolates have 50% saturated fat, while milk chocolate only has 40%. However, dark chocolates have five grams of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, almost two grams more than milk chocolates. If you’re watching your carb intake, dark chocolate is a much healthier because it only has half the sugar content of sugar, but boasts four times more fiber content.
Of course, milk chocolates have more calcium due to the high milk content. However, the iron levels you get in dark chocolates are much higher than white. Plus, dark ones have more magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus.
Both have their own benefits, but if you take a good look at it, there is no denying that dark chocolate has more health benefits than milk chocolate.