How can you eat chocolate every day and still reduce your sugar and calorie intake? That’s the million-dollar question, and several companies are counting on people to ask it. The market for sugar-free and portion-controlled chocolate has exploded in the last few years. There are now a variety of popular sugar-free chocolate bars on the market. You can now buy individually wrapped bars or bars with 60 to 100 kcal.
To help you choose among the many products, we’ve taste-tested many sugar-free chocolate products (and some portion-controlled chocolate products). But first, let’s talk about how a little bit of chocolate every day can be good for your health.
Is chocolate really good for you?
Yes, it is.
Yes, it’s true, chocolate does seem to be good for your health. Although more research needs to be done to be sure, some studies suggest that cocoa and dark chocolate may help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, have lower blood pressure, and have vasodilatory effects.
Many of the health benefits of chocolate seem to stem from the antioxidant flavanols (a flavonoid) in it, which are also found in other plant foods such as tea, grapes, grapefruit and wine. Cocoa beans happen to be rich in the substance.
The amount of flavanols in chocolate depends on the amount of flavanols in the cacao plant chosen, and the way the cacao is made into chocolate. But here are three basic rules of thumb:
- Cocoa powder and roasted chocolate contain more flavonoids than dark chocolate.
- Dark chocolate contains more flavonoids than milk chocolate.
- White chocolate does not contain flavonoids.
Of course, it all comes down to the question of whether you want to offset these potential health benefits of dark chocolate and cocoa by consuming too many calories or saturated fat. That’s why portion control is so important.
How is great-tasting sugar-free chocolate made?
One of the first things I learned while researching the market for sugar-free chocolate is that some supermarkets carry certain brands of sugar-free chocolate. So if you’re looking for a certain brand of sugar-free chocolate, you can go to different stores and ask.
In addition, the current sugar substitute for sugar-free chocolate is maltitol (a sugar alcohol). It is used by almost all companies that make sugar-free chocolate.
This type of sugar substitute (which includes sorbitol, xylitol, mannitol and isomaltitol, and maltitol) is particularly helpful for people with diabetes because only a portion of it can be digested and absorbed by the body. And the components that are absorbed through the intestine are also absorbed slowly, so blood sugar barely rises and the need for insulin is minimal.
Do these benefits sound incredible? Yes, but there are several drawbacks to sugar-free chocolate:
- May cause intestinal discomfort. Most sugar-free chocolate packages say on the label, “Excessive consumption may cause diarrhea. The “diarrhea” is because some of the sugar alcohol is not digested or absorbed. As it passes through the intestines, it begins to ferment and absorb water. This leads to discomfort such as flatulence and diarrhea, depending on the individual dosage and the condition of each person’s intestines. Take this as a warning to eat less of this type of chocolate! The American Dietetic Association states that consuming more than 50 grams of sorbitol or 20 grams of mannitol per day can cause diarrhea. You can find out how much sugar alcohols are in each sugar-free chocolate product in the Nutrition Facts table.
- Sugar-free doesn’t mean saturated fat-free or calorie-free. Chocolate tastes good because of two reasons: the sweetening component (maltitol, in the case of sugar-free chocolate) and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is rich in saturated fat.
Does sugar-free chocolate contain fewer calories?
The good news is that eating unsweetened chocolate reduces your calorie intake. The bad news is that it’s not a huge reduction. 40 grams of unsweetened chocolate contains 190 kilocalories, while the same gram of regular milk chocolate contains about 210 kilocalories. If this represents a 20-kilocalorie reduction per day, that’s a 140-kilocalorie reduction per week and a 560-kilocalorie reduction per month.
With these calorie totals, even if you choose to eat unsweetened chocolate, it’s important to control the amount you eat.
While the reduction in calorie intake from sugar-free chocolate is small, for people who love a little chocolate every day, the reduction can add up to a certain amount of calories per day. But most importantly, these new sugar-free chocolates may be of great benefit to people with diabetes. These products allow them to enjoy small amounts of chocolate without worrying about rising blood sugar levels.
What about regular chocolate?
If you don’t want sugar-free, then enjoy a little bit of regular chocolate (preferably dark chocolate with flavanols). Whatever your chocolate of choice, you can easily buy these portion-controlled chocolates.
Is a 10 g serving really enough to satisfy you? Maybe, if you really stop and take the time to savor it. When you’re on your way out the door, don’t just shove it in your mouth. See how long you can take to enjoy 10 g of chocolate.
One nutritious and satisfying dark chocolate is almond special dark chocolate. You can get some nutritious almonds in one piece of dark chocolate. If two “small” chunks (19 g) are enough to satisfy you, that’s a total of 110 kcal, 7 g fat, 3 g saturated fat (0 trans fat), 10 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g fiber and 1.5 g protein.