Is Dark Chocolate Really Good For You?
Plus: How much caffeine is in chocolate?
Welcome back to your weekly dose of wisdom and wellness, helping you make tomorrow a little better than today. Below you’ll find links to several in-depth, actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals. First, this week’s newsletter-only news brief and tidbits…
People who consume at least five 1-ounce servings of dark chocolate per week had a 21% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared to people who don’t eat any, according to a study published this week in the journal BMJ. Regular chocolate had a positive but much smaller effect: 10% lower risk with four weekly servings.
One ounce (28 grams) is roughly what’s in a regular Hershey’s bar or about four squares of a typical larger bar.
“For anyone who loves chocolate, this is a reminder that making small choices, like choosing dark chocolate over milk chocolate, can make a positive difference to their health,” said study team member Binkai Liu, a doctoral student at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The finding suggests a link but does not prove cause-and-effect. Something in those people’s diets, physical activity or other health factors could have contributed to the outcomes, but the researchers sought to control for those things. Either way, this is one in a long line of studies suggesting dark chocolate is good for you.
Dark chocolate may have a dark side, too, however.
Recent research has found potentially concerning levels of lead and cadmium in many brands of dark chocolate. Experts say more study is needed to understand the problem, but many say the levels are not a threat, so long as one consumes the products in moderation. After reviewing the new study, Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, a cardiologist and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, told The New York Times he embraces dark chocolate as part of a healthy diet. Aim for at least the 70% dark chocolate level, he advised.
So, what might be behind the health differences between milk and dark chocolate? The thinking is that dark chocolate has less sugar and more cocoa, which is packed with polyphenols.
“Even though dark and milk chocolate have similar levels of calories and saturated fat, it appears that the rich polyphenols in dark chocolate might offset the effects of saturated fat and sugar on weight gain and diabetes,” said study team member Qi Sun, MD, a Harvard associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology. “It’s an intriguing difference that’s worth exploring more.”
Yeah, nutrition science is always evolving, and often there’s no clear answer to the exact health benefits of particular foods. I’m eager to see where the science of chocolate goes. Meanwhile, I’m gonna explore the potential benefits of dark chocolate on the daily. :)
BIG WORDS: Polyphenols
Micronutrients including resveratrol, flavonoids, phenolic acids and thousands of other hard-to-pronounce substances that act as antioxidants to neutralize potentially harmful molecules called free radicals.
VITAL STAT: 25
Milligrams of caffeine in an ounce of typical dark chocolate. That compares to anywhere from around 200 to more than 300 milligrams in an 8-ounce cup of coffee. Caffeine takes hours to work through your system and is known to disrupt sleep, so experts advise avoiding it after mid-afternoon (see my Caffeine Comparisons to learn more).
If you haven’t already, subscribe to this newsletter here so you never miss an issue.
THIS WEEK’S FEATURES
A selection of this week’s informative, entertaining and actionable stories by Wise & Well’s team of journalists, topical experts and practicing professionals.
When My Whole Body Grieved
We tend to think of emotions—happiness, sadness or grief—as good or bad mental states. But emotions have a direct impact on our physical health, too. Having dealt with unimaginable grief, this physician explains how it gets into our bones, and she offers helpful personal insights and science-backed advice for anyone dealing with extreme emotional setbacks.
I have a personal interest in grief, its causes, and its effects after losing a son to suicide 12 years ago, as well as losing both parents and my brother in close succession. I was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks after my son died. We recently experienced a house fire, and I found that the loss of the safety and comfort of our home was even more devastating than the loss of some of our possessions.
—Dr. Jan Patterson
Is Fluoride Harming Your Body While Helping Your Teeth?
A low-level controversy that’s been simmering for years boiled into the open when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was nominated by the next president to lead Health and Human Services. As with vaccines, the risks linked to fluoride have been overblown by critics like RFK Jr. whose concerns go beyond skepticism and are instead founded on selective interpretation of the full body of science. This article is loaded with actual evidence. And it’s conclusion is clear:
Saying that harms are outweighing the benefits, without data to prove the point, is the wrong approach.
—Dr. Julian Barkan
ADHD is Far More Than 18 Clickbait Questions
Lots of people think they have ADHD. But as with any mental condition, the checklists (or popular conceptions) that people rely on to self-diagnose, or to judge others, are woefully inaccurate. Here’s a deep, deep dive:
Despite my 30 years of working as a psychiatrist helping with adults with ADHD, and my background in neuroscience, my writing won’t provide you with a definitive diagnosis either. That has to occur with a trained professional who is familiar with the condition and with you. This article will provide you with a deeper understanding of what ADHD entails, so you’ll have some useful points to consider when thinking about yourself, friends, co-workers, family members, neighbors or public officials.
—John Kruse MD, PhD
NOTE: Visit Wise & Well on Monday, Dec. 9, for a follow-up story by Kruse on what ADHD is not. Or sign up for this newsletter and never miss a story.
Inconsistent Bedtimes Linked to Poor Health, Bad Moods and Earlier Death
Establishing regularity in bedtimes is known to help us fall asleep faster and sleep better. New research finds that a consistent sleep schedule offers health benefits on its own, even among people who sleep less than the minimum recommended hours.
As scientists continue pulling back the covers on sleep patterns, they’ve discovered that irregular sleep schedules are, independently, linked to everything from increased risk of heart disease and diabetes to lousy moods and premature death.
— Robert Roy Britt
NOTE: Visit Wise & Well on Monday, Dec. 9, for my follow-up story on how to create a more consistent sleep schedule. Or sign up for this newsletter and never miss a story.
Cancel Culture on Campus: A Mature Student Reports
College was both formative and fun. It opened my small-town eyes to the much bigger world out there and made my career possible. What I loved most was the diversity, acceptance and openness, and free flow of thoughts. That was decades ago. This writer, returning to university after years in the real world, reflects with concern about how different campus culture is today.
People can be woke or not woke — that’s up to them, that’s up to me — but the act of signaling a prevailing cultural attitude (what the academic and writer Terry Eagleton describes as “a passing phenomenon”) is a definitive shift from the behavior I used to see on campus back in the day.
—Niall Stewart
Why Chronic Pain Sufferers Hate Yoga
After many years of mild chronic back pain that prevented me from running, I took up yoga, and it changed everything. I count on yoga now, and I often suggest it to others. But my chronic pain was, luckily, addressable. That’s not always the case. Imagine someone with severe chronic pain, who has tried everything, listening to you (or me) ask them if they’ve tried yoga, or whatever remedy anecdotally worked for you or someone else. This is a story for everyone who does not suffer chronic pain.
If you know someone in chronic pain — say a family member, friend, or co-worker — it’s vital to understand that the questions you ask may be unhelpful, hurtful, or even harmful. Honestly, we sufferers don’t want to be pestered by so-called solutions we’ve been asked about before. It’s exhausting to keep saying, “Yeah, I tried that and it didn’t help much.”
—Randall H. Duckett
The Surprising, Unhealthy Filth of Shopping Carts
During the early months of Covid, I disinfected my shopping cart handles. Then science revealed that most respiratory infections are transmitted through the air, not via surfaces, so I stopped. But this scientist explains that shopping cart handles are indeed disgusting, and while the risk of infection might be low for most adults, it’s higher for kids who’re always putting things in their mouths.
First, I’m a microbiome scientist. Let me tell you: nothing is clean. And after I learned more about the filthiness of shopping carts, I began reaching for those sanitizing antibacterial wipes every time I went to the store.
—Sam Westreich, PhD
Sharing Your Child’s Information Online is Really Risky
I’ve always been a cautious about sharing online anything to do with our kids’ challenges in life or my challenges parenting them. They’re grown now, so it’s not hard to simply respect their privacy as I would anyone else’s. But when kids are little—and especially when we need parenting advice—it can be tempting to turn to online friends for help. Whoa! this psychologist warns.
You may or may not get the help you need. But when you post personal, detailed, and sometimes unintentionally incriminating information online, it can affect your child’s safety and emotional well-being and leave a trail that persists well into the future.”
—Gail Post, PhD.
Use Mind-Wandering to Fuel Your Creativity and Productivity
A wandering mind is a sign of intelligence — or it can be, research finds. By borrowing from mindfulness meditation techniques, we can initiate mind-wandering, and use it to brainstorm creative solutions. I explain, step-by-step, how I get my mind into productive daydreaming sessions, and the science behind the whole concept.
My typical daydreaming session is pretty unstructured, but there’s a pattern to it that gets me out of the daily routine in a way that frees up my mind to flow on its own. The main thing is to get away from your computer and do nothing for a while (which, by itself, is good for you, science says) and let your mind go wherever it goes.
—Robert Roy Britt
Conflating the Opioid Crisis and the Pain Epidemic is Deadly
The opioid crisis kills thousands of Americans every year. Lesser known are the tremendous side effects for people in chronic pain who need opioids and take them responsibly. Or they would take them if the entire healthcare system hadn’t overreacted and made it nearly impossible to administer care properly.
Even though the pain clinic was legitimate, I had the gnawing sense that I was doing something shameful. Intimidated, chagrined, and discouraged, I stopped the process of changing physicians and returned to getting my pain medicine from my primary care doctor. Like many pain patients, I would have to tough out the pain on my current doses of drugs.
— Randall H. Duckett
You Really Need Some Alone Time
Finally this week: Please don’t invite me over. I’m not coming. I need to be alone. I’m best so. But that’s just me. I crave solitude. Being alone rarely makes me feel lonely. That’s not true for a lot of people, of course, and the feeling of loneliness is a terrible thing. But as I write: Appreciating solitude is a skill, one that can be cultivated, in order to reduce stress and anxiety, be more productive, and find greater happiness.
I hope we’ve helped make your tomorrow a little better than today. If you like what you see, please follow Wise & Well and/or subscribe to this newsletter. If you’re interested in writing for us, see our quality standards and requirements. You can also find me sharing these stories and more on Bluesky and Mastodon, in case you’d like to find me there.
Cheers,
Rob
