ecobites.com

Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

The main ingredient in dark chocolate, which is packed full of disease-fighting antioxidants. The darker the chocolate the more cocoa it contains, so to maximise the health-boosting benefits it's best to opt for the dark varieties that have no added milk chocolate.

Cocoa contains high amounts of anti-oxidants, even more than red wine or black tea! Then the news that the antibacterial agents in cocoa beans offset its high sugar level, making chocolate a better choice than other candies in not promoting tooth decay. For an earth-friendly alternative, choose organic chocolate.

which is made from only the highest quality organic ingredients that must meet or exceed all organic standards of qualification. As a certified organic food, none of the ingredients in organic chocolate can be genetically modified. Organic certification also ensures that if milk powder is used, that it be free of rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone), an artificial hormone that is often given to cows to increase their milk production.

Research has found dark chocolate, which should be at least 60 percent cocoa by weight, is one of the richest sources of the bioflavonoid antioxidants that counteract cell damage.

Dr. David Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University, said part of the reason why so many people love chocolate is because eating it stimulates the brain's pleasure centers. The xanthine compounds in chocolate -- a group of chemicals that includes caffeine -- aid that reaction.

"It's absolutely magic food," Katz said. "Because it's so good, it almost feels a little naughty."

Milk chocolate, which contains a much lower percentage of cocoa, confers less than half of the benefits of dark chocolate and white chocolate has no such health benefits because it lacks cocoa.

And there has been compelling evidence that eating dark chocolate has positive cardiovascular effects. Studies have found that chocolate can lower blood pressure, reduce the risk of blood clots and improve blood flow through veins and arteries in humans.

Organic cocoa is cultivated on small plots under a shade canopy that preserves critical elements of the native tropical forests. Biologists have determined that this environmentally sound method of farming helps to maintain bio-diversity and protect the winter habitat of millions of migratory songbirds. Conversely, conventional cocoa is second only to conventional cotton in its use of pesticides, according to the Pesticide Awareness Network

Green & Blacks Organic Chocolate Global page.

Dagoba Organic Chocolate. Dedicated to the Art of Chocolate Alchemy® - transforming exceptional cacao into edible gold.
Endangered Species Chocolate Company 
Rapunzel Pure Organics Inc.

Newman's Own Organics