If you’re a chocolate lover like me, choosing a good chocolate bar is easier said than done. A new Consumer Reports study finds dangerously high levels of lead and cadmium in some dark chocolate. Here’s what you need to consider before buying your next bar.
Dark chocolate has received a lot of attention because it offers health benefits. It contains relatively good amounts of magnesium and potassium, little sugar and its antioxidants, flavanols, can be good for your heart and cholesterol levels. But, it also contains lead and cadmium.
Before I go on, please note that you will find lead and cadmium in many foods, both non-organic and organic, including sweet potatoes, spinach and carrots. It’s hard to get around eating foods with these toxic heavy metals. That said, if possible, you want to avoid foods with high levels of these metals.
Significant exposure to cadmium can cause kidney, liver, and bone damage. Lead exposure can cause developmental disabilities in children and nervous system issues, as well as hypertension and kidney harm in adults.
What to do? When it comes to chocolate, enjoy it, but choose brands with lower levels of these heavy metals. The federal government does not limit the amount of heavy metals in food. Try to avoid eating more than .5 micrograms of lead and 4.1 micrograms of cadmium a day. How does that translate?
Eat dark chocolate from Mast, Taza, Valrhona and Ghirardelli, suggests Consumer Reports. Their chocolate has relatively little lead and cadmium. And, eat it sparingly. Switch it out with some milk chocolate, which contains less lead and cadmium than dark chocolate. But, eat milk chocolate sparingly as well, because it contains a lot of sugar.
Which chocolate brands should you try to avoid eating? Consumer Reports found high levels of lead, cadmium or both in dark chocolate bars of Scharffenberger, Lindt, Dove, Tony’s, Chocolove and Trader Joe’s.
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