Dark chocolate benefits: is it healthy and good for you?

Dark chocolate benefits

Dark chocolate is often seen as a healthier choice than milk chocolate, because of its higher cocoa solid content.

Cocoa solids are a good source of flavanols, a type of chemical that naturally occurs in plants.

Flavanols give dark chocolate its slightly bitter taste, and its potential health benefits such a helping to lower blood pressure and making blood vessels more flexible.

Dark chocolate vs milk and white chocolate

Chocolate is made from beans from the fruit of the cacao tree. These beans are fermented, dried and roasted to make cocoa nibs (small crunchy bits) which are ground to a paste called chocolate ‘liquor’.

This ‘raw’ chocolate liquor is separated into two main components: cocoa solids (the non-fat part) and cocoa butter (the fat).

Different types of chocolate contain different amounts of these, which is why dark, milk and white chocolate taste and feel so different.

Dark chocolate is made from cocoa solids (35 to 90 per cent cocoa solids), cocoa butter and sugar.

Milk chocolate is made from cocoa solids (generally less than 35 per cent), cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder. Milk chocolate often contains more sugar than dark.

White chocolate is technically not a ‘real’ chocolate as it contains no cocoa solids, only cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder.

Are the flavanols in dark chocolate good for your heart?

A 2019 review of observational studies showed a link between having chocolate and the reduced risk of heart and circulatory diseases.

It suggested 45g chocolate per week was linked the biggest reduction in risk. Eating more chocolate than this was potentially linked to bad health effects from eating too much sugar.

However, the type of chocolate and flavanol amounts were not recorded in this study, so it does not directly prove that the flavanols in dark chocolate are responsible for a reduced risk of heart and circulatory diseases.

In a 2025 review of human trials, flavanol-containing foods (including cocoa, tea and some fruits) were seen to potentially reduce the risk of heart and circulatory diseases.

Although these studies are promising, commercial chocolate usually contains much lower levels of flavanols than the cocoa bean products used in scientific studies.

And while cocoa solids are a natural source of flavanols, a lot are lost during the process of making chocolate.

Dark chocolate contains more flavanols than milk chocolate. White chocolate contains no flavanols.

We know that dark chocolate contains less flavanols than cocoa nibs (raw cocoa), but more than milk chocolate. White chocolate contains no flavanols.

The actual amount of flavanols in commercial chocolate varies a lot. According to nutrient databases:

• 20g dark chocolate contains between 22 to 73mg flavanols.
• 20g milk chocolate contains between 3 to 7mg flavanols.

Unfortunately, information on the flavanol content of chocolate is not put on labels, so it’s impossible to know how much individual products contain.

There is no official agreement about the amount of flavanols you need to eat to see health benefits. However, the US Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics have estimated that 400 to 600mg flavanols per day from all food sources (including cocoa, black and green tea, grapes and berries) may help support heart health.

Is dark chocolate good for weight loss?

Existing studies of the effects of dark chocolate on weight loss have shown conflicting results and more research is needed before we can have a definitive answer to this question.

However, since dark chocolate can be more bitter than other types of chocolate, this can help you to eat less of it and help keep your portion sizes down.

Remember, dark chocolate, like milk and white chocolate, is high in fat, sugar and calories and may contribute to weight gain if you eat too much.

Is dark chocolate good for reducing the risk of diabetes?

Although a few long-term observational studies have suggested moderate amounts of dark chocolate (unlike milk chocolate) may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, more clinical studies are needed to prove this.

Is dark chocolate good for high blood pressure?

Flavanols and high blood pressure

The 2025 review of human trials showed that flavanol-containing foods reduced high blood pressure.

But although dark chocolate contains more flavanols than milk chocolate, most labels do not show how many flavanols are in an individual chocolate product.

In the UK, for a cocoa product to be described as ‘rich in flavanols’, it would have to provide 200mg flavanols per day. Most products don’t provide this much.

And it would not be possible to get all the flavanols you need from dark chocolate alone, while still eating healthy amounts of chocolate.

So, it’s important to include other sources of flavanols in your diet, such as green and black tea, grapes and berries.

Theobromine and high blood pressure

Theobromine is a caffeine-like compound that is present in cocoa and therefore in dark chocolate. It has a mild stimulant effect, a bit like coffee but milder.

Some of the beneficial health effects of chocolate are thought to come from theobromine, such as its blood pressure-lowering effects.

Like flavanols, levels of theobromine in dark chocolate vary and its potential health benefits are still being researched.

Is dark chocolate good for high cholesterol?

The fat in dark chocolate comes from cocoa butter, which is 50 to 60 per cent saturated fat. Dark chocolate usually contains more saturated fat than milk chocolate.

Eating too much saturated fat can raise ‘bad’ non-HDL cholesterol levels, and it is recommended that you replace saturated fat with healthier unsaturated fats.

However, not all saturated fats behave the same way. Dark chocolate contains a type called stearic acid which has a neutral effect on blood cholesterol. This has led to claims that chocolate does not raise blood cholesterol.

Unfortunately, dark chocolate also contains other saturated fats, including about 25 per cent palmitic acid, a saturated fat that does raise blood cholesterol levels.

The takeaway: is dark chocolate healthy for you?

Dark chocolate contains more flavanols than milk chocolate, and these chemicals have been linked to some heart-health benefits, including lowering high blood pressure.

We do not know the exact amount of flavanols in different chocolate products, so it’s hard to know how much you are actually getting.

But we do know that dark chocolate, like other types of chocolate, is also high in fat, saturated fat, sugar and calories, and eating too much may contribute to high cholesterol and weight gain.

As well as being found in dark chocolate, flavanols are also found in green and black teas, grapes, apples, pears and nuts. Including these in your daily diet will help increase how much flavanols you are having and contribute to a balanced diet, without the extra saturated fat and added sugar.

There is no harm in eating small amounts of dark chocolate a few times a week as part of a balanced diet.

A dark chocolate with high cocoa solids (such as 70 per cent) is likely to contain more flavanols, less sugar and be more bitter than dark chocolate with lower cocoa solids. But the exact amounts vary between brands.

And keep in mind that just 20g (2 x 10g squares of dark chocolate) will give you about:

• 115 kcal
• 8g fat
• 5g saturated fat
• 6g sugar.

Think of dark chocolate as a treat that may be beneficial to your health, rather than a ‘health food’ you should eat lots of.

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