You may have seen me on the TV on Thursday evening, but if not - heres a clip from Ch5's Secrets of Your Supermarket Food! I was chatting to the gorgeous Nisha from @mowglistreetfood all about chocolate and here are some of the take home points.. Cocoa is a good source of manganese, zinc, copper and iron, as well as flavanols which are a type of polyphenol with antioxidant qualities, naturally found in fruits, vegetables, teas and coffees. However, some of these flavanols can be lost during manufacturing and the original amount can vary depending on the origin of the beans. So whilst dark chocolate (higher in cocoa %) may contain some flavanols, theres no way of knowing just how much is in our commercially available chocolate bars. There is some research which links cocoa to health promoting effects such as a reduced risk of stroke, to regulating insulin levels - but the majority of these studies were conducted with cocoa in its raw form, rather than chocolate. Personally, I couldnt live without chocolate and I think it goes without saying that we eat it mostly for enjoyment, rather than its nutritional value! That being said, chocolate can be high in both free sugars and saturated fat, so we do need to be mindful of portion sizes and the frequency in which we have it.Comparison foods used:8g fat - 5g of which are saturated fat per tiny (20g) portion of chocolate: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/300794885 = the same amount as in 1/2 a Margherita pizza - https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/261384030 Could you live without chocolate?!WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE - EPISODE1 SEASON 4: https://www.my5.tv/secrets-of-your-supermarket-food/season-4
