Is 85% Actually Better?
Two bars of 85% cocoa are sitting in the fridge, and I've started to wonder whether I'm just looking for permission. So I checked what the actual evidence says, and it's less flattering to my argument than I'd hoped.
There are two bars of 85% cocoa dark chocolate in the fridge, and I’ve been building a case for them.
It goes like this: dark is healthier than milk, 85% is the darkest, so 85% must be the healthiest. Therefore, a couple of squares is basically medicine.
I’m fairly sure that’s my brain negotiating. So I looked up what the evidence actually says.
The best thing I found was HEART UK’s page on dark chocolate.
It says 20 g of 60% dark chocolate contains 34 mg of flavanols, the compounds usually cited for heart benefits. The same 20 g of milk chocolate contains 14 mg. So dark does come out ahead on that measure.
The catch is that the same page says many of those flavanols are removed during manufacturing, and that a 20 g portion of chocolate doesn’t come close to the amounts associated with the benefits in cocoa itself. It also says it can’t be considered to have the same benefits.
So the health case for dark chocolate is real, but it’s a modest one, and it’s weaker than the one I’d been constructing in the kitchen.
I also need to be honest about what I don’t know. The HEART UK figures are for 60% dark chocolate. I couldn’t find a comparable figure for 85%, so I can’t tell you how much more flavanol my bars actually contain. It’s plausible there’s more, but I’m not going to pretend I’ve measured it.
On calories, dark isn’t the saving I’d hoped for. Cocoa butter is fat, so dark chocolate is roughly as calorie-dense as milk chocolate, and often more so per gram. It has less sugar, but that doesn’t make it low calorie.
So “85% is lighter” isn’t true, and “85% is healthier” is only partly true.
What the HEART UK page does say, and what I keep coming back to, is that a couple of squares is enough, and that you get more satisfaction from a smaller portion when you eat mindfully.
That’s the bit that matters. If I want something sweet after something spicy, two squares, eaten properly, do the job. Half a bar, or the whole thing because it’s there, is a different decision entirely, and no amount of cocoa percentage changes that.
So the honest answer is yes, 85% is probably the better chocolate to eat. It’s still chocolate, though, and the nutrition facts don’t give me a licence to eat it because it’s in the fridge.
Close the fridge.