Showing Heart
Almonds may be well known for their heart health benefits, but chocolate also has garnered a degree of attention for purported healthy attributes.
A Swedish study found men age 49-75 who ate about one third of a cup of chocolate chips every day had a 17% lower risk of stroke—12 fewer strokes per 100,000 people—compared to a group who did not consume chocolate. For every quarter cup increase in chocolate consumption, stroke risk dropped 14%. Although dark chocolate’s benefits have been established (2012 saw the European Food Safety Authority rule that cocoa powder and dark chocolate could claim to help people improve blood circulation), about 90% of the chocolate intake in Sweden, including what was consumed during the course of the study of 37,000 men, was milk chocolate.
“The beneficial effect of chocolate consumption on stroke may be related to the flavonoids in chocolate. Flavonoids appear to be protective against cardiovascular disease through antioxidant, anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory properties. It’s also possible that flavonoids in chocolate may decrease blood concentrations of bad cholesterol and reduce blood pressure,” said study author Susanna C. Larsson, associate professor in the Division of Nutritional Epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Medicine at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Another study, this one out of Melbourne, Australia, found dark chocolate could have a significant role in the reduction of heart disease risk. The study looked at 2,013 patients with metabolic syndrome and, therefore, at high risk for heart disease. Patients who consumed 100g of bittersweet chocolate a day had fewer cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and stroke, and led the researchers to suggest that eating the special chocolate every day for 10 years would reduce heart problems in high-risk patients.
One of the year’s more interesting efforts, however, centered around the formulation of chocolate that would not melt in hot weather. The Dairy Milk bars from Cadbury in the UK stay completely solid, even if exposed to temperatures in excess of 100˚F for more than three hours. Two Cadbury engineers submitted an 8,000-word patent application for the development, the secret being a change in the “conching step,” when a container filled with metal beads grinds the ingredients. The innovative aspect breaks down the sugar particles into smaller pieces and reduces how much fat covers them and, thereby, makes the bar more resistant to heat.
The Cadbury development may reduce the melting of the chocolate, but one survey this year found women, in particular, more concerned with the guilt experienced when indulging in chocolate. The Hershey Co. survey found nearly three in five women (58%) would prefer to savor their chocolate without guilt, leading the company to introduce Hershey’s Simple Pleasures, chocolates with 30% less fat compared to the average of leading milk chocolates.
Reducing chocolate’s fat content was also the goal behind University of Warwick researchers in the UK, who found a way to replace up to 50% of chocolate’s fat content with fruit juice. They infused orange and cranberry juice in milk, dark and white chocolate and found the effort did nothing to the mouthfeel of the resulting product. Although the final product did have a fruity element to it, researchers noted water and a small amount of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) could be used instead of juice to maintain the chocolaty flavor.
Healthy Competition
With all of the efforts to make healthier snacks and candies, it should be little surprise that snacks’ emerging competition in 2012 was from other, more healthful categories.
Snacks have long been associated with a degree of indulgence, but NPD Group research, “Snacking in America,” found increased concerns about health and eating right have prompted a growth in popularity of fruit as a snack. The report also found fruit was consumed throughout the day and during more snack occasions than other typical snack foods. During a two-year period ending in March 2012, consumers snacked on fresh fruit 10 more times a year than chocolate, the next top snack food, and 25 more occasions a year than potato chips, the third-ranking snack.
Of the six need-states prompting a snack, fresh fruit ranked number one in five of them (health and weight, hunger satiety, on-the-go/convenience, routine/habit and satisfying a craving), falling short only in the area of “treat/reward when watching television.”
Fresh fruit’s popularity also extends across demographics. Consumers 65 and older enjoy the most fruit, followed by children under 12. Teenagers (13-17) eat the least amount of fruit, but their consumption was shown to increase as they aged.
“Taking the who, what, when and where of fresh fruit consumption into account, the point to be made is that fresh fruit is a top-of-mind snack with most consumers,” advised Darren Seifer, NPD food and beverage industry analyst. “Among the opportunities this trend presents to producers and produce retailers [is] to market and merchandise fruit around the activities during which it is most likely to be eaten, [thus] usage can be expanded with packaging innovation and promotions for on-the-go activities when it’s least likely to be consumed.”
This is not to suggest that healthier snacks have no place in consumer pantries. Far from it; manufacturers have time and again introduced healthier versions of familiar snacks.
In its Sweet Crisps, 34 Degrees, the maker of all-natural, wafer-thin crisps, introduced three flavors of a product that will “pair perfectly with nut butters, fruit spreads, a variety of cheeses and ice cream.” The flavors—caramel, chocolate, cinnamon and graham—are intended to be not only snacks in and of themselves, but also versatile—to be used as a dessert topping or even incorporated into desserts as a crumb crust.
Curiously, the NPD’s Group snacking report found that consumers’ overall eating behaviors become healthier with increased snacking. According to its research, consumers following the “healthiest diets” snacked twice as often as those with “less healthy” eating habits. The NPD report found consumers with the healthiest diets eat 26% more snack meals a year than the average consumer. “Moderately healthy” consumers ate 1% fewer snack meals than the average consumer, while those with the “least healthy” diets had 29% fewer snack meals than average.
As Seifer explains, “We are no longer as averse to snacking as we used to be. Instead, snacking may be viewed as one way to improve healthy eating habits. This way of thinking about snacking provides an opportunity for manufacturers to make health and wellness innovation part of their product development and marketing strategies.”
As the economy recovers, industry analyst IBISWorld believes consumer spending on discretionary goods, especially premium chocolate, will grow—and not only in North America. The group believes producers will benefit from the projected surge in per capita consumption of candy and chocolate in developing countries, such as China and Russia, while continuing to reap the benefits of new products introduced in saturated markets in North America and Europe, the two regions that will account for 85% of industry production and approximately 86% of industry revenue.
