How to Find the Best Dark Chocolates and Cocoas and Avoid Cadmium Contamination

How do you find the best quality dark chocolate, cocoa powder, cocoa flavanol supplement, or cacao nibs? ConsumerLab.com's Dr. Tod Cooperman explains how to get the most flavanols with the least contamination, based on CL's independent tests of popular products published at tinyurl.com/y82q5l94. [Update: Additional dark chocolate and cocoa products were tested by ConsumerLab in 2022. These have been added to the report and are discussed in a more recent video at youtu.be/2oPJ-FiRZU0 ]

0:00 What we looked for when testing dark chocolate and cocoas
0:55 What are the health benefits of flavonols
1:50 What's in chocolate products and what it means
3:20 Cocoa powder and flavonols
4:18 What we have found in tests
5:27​ How much flavanols should get per day

Here are some insights and tips from ConsumerLab.com:

-- You need to get at least 200 mg of cocoa flavanols per day for cardiovascular benefits, and 500 mg for potential cognitive (memory) benefits.

-- Flavanols in a tablespoon of cocoa powder range from only about 13 mg to well over 100 mg, depending on the product. But many exceed the daily limit for the toxic heavy metal cadmium. Cadmium can also be an issue with dark chocolates. CL''s report shows which have the best ratio of flavanols to cadmium so you can avoid exceeding the limit for cadmium.

-- "Dutched" cocoas and chocolates will be less bitter (and darker in color) but have much lower levels of flavanols.

-- You can't rely on the "% cacao" listed on products as an indicator of flavanol content because this includes varying amounts of cocoa butter which do not contain flavanols.

-- A 40 gram serving of dark chocolate provides, on average, about 200 mg of flavanols, but this can range, depending on the product, from about 100 mg to more than 500 mg. This means that you can get flavanols with fewer calories if you choose the right dark chocolate. CL's report shows you which were best.

-- The easiest way to get flavanols without cadmium is from a high-flavanol supplement, but CL discovered that some supplements contain only 1 or 2 mg of flavanols while others provide hundreds.

You can look up how different dark chocolates and cocoa powders (as well as cocoa supplements and cacao nibs) fared in CL's tests in its Dark Chocolates and Cocoa Powders Review at tinyurl.com/y82q5l94

Brands tested include Aler Eco, Baker's, Chocolove, CocoaVia, Dagoba, Dove, Endangered Species, Equal, Futurebiotics, Ghirardelli, Guittard, Hawaii Pharm, Healthworks, Hershey's, Lily's, Lindt, Montezuma's, Moser Roth, Navitas Naturals, Pascha, Sharffen Berger, Solaray, Taza, Theo, Trader Joe's, Valrhona, Viva Naturals, and Volupta.

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