(This article was published in 2006)
A lick. A bite. A flavour-rich chew.
And you're hooked. That's the bitter truth about chocolate. Yet, chocophiles
globally are united by a singular passion for this feel-good cacao product —
despite medical warnings of obesity, diabetes and tooth cavities.
Over the past year, glad tidings
have infected chocoholics globally (count me in). Dark chocolate has health
benefits, proclaims the media, including quasi-medical articles in Time,
Newsweek and Forbes. A reason to celebrate with another bar of
Lindt 70 per cent or a Godiva selection or even Ghirardelli intense dark
Twilight Delight with 72 per cent cacao.
The great dark chocolate rush was
triggered by reports celebrating its antioxidants, found in fruits and
vegetables, berries, red wine and natural cacao. These natural compounds, say
scientists, can prevent cell damage, thus slowing down the onset of heart
disease or cancer.
What's clear is this: milk and white
chocolate are now passé among chocolate aficionados.
Big-league global manufacturers
recognise that the future market is gearing up for chocolate labelled bitter,
dark, extra dark, extra bittersweet or extra-cacao, generally with an unsweetened
chocolate content of over 50 per cent.
So, Mars Inc. rolled out its premium
CocoaVia line of flavanol-rich dark chocolate, steeped in cholesterol-busting
plant sterols. Not to be outdone, Hershey Co. introduced an Extra Dark bar last
autumn, while M&M's now offers limited-time Snickers Dark. Nestlé is
backing its new KitKat 4 Finger Dark to tap into a UK market predicted by a
research group to grow 48 per cent to £191.1 million by 2010. Even Cadbury's UK
launched Flake Dark for the 3 million new dark chocolate fans who emerged over
the past two years.
More recently, in the US, a thick
chocolate-acai berry drink called Xocai (www.mydrchocolate.com) has been creating a buzz.
Why? Selling nuggets, protein bars and drink under the banner of the
"healthy chocolate revolution" through a network of distributors,
they cite Forbes magazine for their cause: "Over a 15-year period,
men who ate cocoa regularly had significantly lower blood pressure... men who
consumed the highest amount of cocoa were half as likely to die from
cardiovascular disease... men who ate most cocoa were less likely to die from
any causes."
What is Xocai's USP? The hyped
antioxidant power of unprocessed cocoa, Amazonian acai berries, dark grapes and
blueberries.
While the Xocai products have yet to
reach the Indian market, an online acquaintance did send some nuggets and soya-fortified
protein bars to my Bangalore base. First impressions? The nugget, with
concentrated cacao, delights the palate with its intense, strong taste. Teamed
with a glass of water, it kept hunger pangs at bay for the next three hours.
As for the flavour-layered, chewy
protein bar, dieters have used it for on-the-go lunches, losing up to 19 lb
over five weeks, according to Kandi Pruitt, a Texas-based distributor.
Of course, the home truths about
Indian consumption patterns differ radically. A Mumbai-based spokesman for
market leader Cadbury responds on e-mail: "Currently we do not market any
dark chocolate in India. In our view, dark chocolate will only cater to niche
segment."
He stresses, "Compared to the
West, chocolate consumption in India is extremely low. Per capita consumption
in urban India is about 300 gm, as compared to 9 kg in the UK. That's because
the consumption of traditional substitutes like mithais is huge."
Yet Indian chocoholics are as
fanatical as their counterparts abroad. Why? Malini Suryananayan, a
Bangalore-based baker, responds, "I prefer dark chocolate to mithai.
People here are still wary that chocolate somehow has eggs or some kind of
animal fat in it, which is true in the case of cheap chocolate, which uses
animal product-based emulsifiers. Dark chocolate has very few takers in India
simply because we do not accept bitterness as a complex taste sensation."
She adds, "It is proven that
consuming dark chocolate increases the endorphin release in the human brain,
generally putting us all in a good mood. The Aztec ruler Montezuma drank
chocolate drinks (roasted cacao nibs pounded and mixed with water) daily
because it was believed to increase a man's libido! Personally, I eat just a
square, instead of a whole block of milk or white chocolate, constantly
searching for that chocolate fix!"
What other chocolate signals are
worth heeding? Dr Nandita Iyer, Mumbai-based health and food researcher/writer,
says, "I know for a fact that dark chocolate is rich in antioxidants. But
I see no sense in hogging a whole bunch of chocolates, thereby increasing sugar
and calorie intake, for the antioxidant benefits I could have as well got from
a fresh salad."
Nandita stresses, "Wine and
chocolate, which are touted as good for health, cease to be any good if we
can't stop at one glass or a small square. Moderation is difficult to practise
when it comes to goodies."
What of the health `benefits'? Dr
George Cherian, long a Vellore-based cardiologist, now at Bangalore's Narayana
Hrudayalaya, observes, "Most of the short-term crossover trials show that
systolic blood pressure readings come down by 10-15 points, or good cholesterol
goes up. But little is known of the long-term effects. On their own,
antioxidants have been shown to be useless in preventing cardiac
complications."
Dr Cherian adds, "I can safely
say that if you can afford the calories, dark chocolate is possibly good for
you. It certainly won't do you any harm."
Will dark chocolate ever capture mithai-centric
Indian city-dwellers? Tongue-in-cheek, Malini responds, "Dark chocolate
should be a must in the diet. Imagine the state of bliss one will be in when in
a traffic jam or an intense meeting in the office! As for traditional diets,
what about lamb chops simmered in chili-chocolate?"
While the jury's still out on
whether the dark chocolate buzz will last, there's still time for a quick bite.
But no more than a square at a time. Over-indulgence, for certain, could result
in bitter medicine.
(The Hindu Business line 2006)
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