Heavy Metals in your Valentine’s Day Chocolate?!

Valentines Day is around the corner and the month of love also has a reputation for the month of buying CHOCOLATE! 

With the recent news articles about the study done by Consumer Reports (2), the presence of toxic heavy metals in our favorite chocolate bars is devastating for all chocoholics. There is another study (3) done by As You Sow that shows the results from even more chocolate brands! 

As a reminder, these tests done are a “moment in time,” meaning it’s a one-time test showing the results from that specific batch of chocolate from a specific lot of cocoa beans from a specific crop. Manufacturers may purchase from different farmers in different regions according to cost or for a variety of reasons. That being said, there may be a pattern in some manufacturers testing results where maybe they consistently buy lower-quality beans and inadvertently expose them further to lead throughout production. It’s up to both the farmers of cacao beans and manufacturers of chocolate to ensure good practices and minimize the exposure to heavy metals.

Heavy Metals?!

To be specific, the heavy metals we’re talking about is LEAD and CADMIUM. The International Association of Research on Cancer classifies Cadmium as a known carcinogen (causes cancer) and Lead as a probable carcinogen (4). According to the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE), Cadmium has strong evidence that it causes lung cancer and chronic kidney disease (CKD) amongst a myriad of other diseases and symptoms (5). The CHE also shows that Lead can cause infertility, ADD/ADHD, cognitive impairment/developmental delays, CKD, coronary artery disease (CAD), and more. 

What the !@#$?

While this may seem shocking or overwhelming, this article (1) explains that heavy metals are present in multiple aspects of our food pyramid across the world. Part of this is because cadmium is naturally present in the soil and certain plants pull this out of the soil more readily than others, one of them being the cacao plant. Depending on the growing location, the soil mineral and heavy metal content will vary such as proximity to volcanoes or industrial areas (pollution contamination). Lead can be introduced to the plant throughout the stages of chocolate processing. The beans from inside the plant are laid out to dry where they can be exposed to exhaust fumes from leaded gasoline vehicles in dust from the dirt roads. The shells on the outside can then be contaminated with lead so it’s important to have good harvesting practices. The beans can be transported in shipping containers with chipping lead-contaminated paint. The cacao beans can also be exposed to lead during processing at factories through parts of the machinery as the metal wears down and releases dust. So from the ground to the transportation to the actual processing of cacao beans creating our favorite chocolate bars, there are multiple routes of exposure. 

The power of CHOICE.

As a consumer, what can we do about it? We can use our dollar to pay for chocolate that comes from companies who are transparent about the heavy metals present in their products. We can also remind ourselves that chocolate is a dessert and not to overindulge. As the higher percentage of dark chocolate increases, the higher the percentage of the cacao solids and thus the heavy metals present within them. Some people recommend eating milk chocolate to increase the milk and sugar and decrease the cacao solids, but it’s a trade off for increased sugar content and decreased health benefits from the cacao. 

Wait, I thought dark chocolate was GOOD for you??

Yes, we have also seen in the media that dark chocolate has health benefits! These include anti inflammatory, antihypertensive (vasodilator), and antioxidant properties (7, 8). Cacao contains flavonoids which are rich in antioxidants that reduce free radicals and inflammation (7). Cacao also contains methylxanthines including caffeine and theobromine (a cardiovascular stimulant). Theobromine is a mild stimulant compared to caffeine and does not have the crash or jitters associated with caffeine. Cacao also contains many beneficial minerals including magnesium, potassium, and copper (8). Present in small amounts are phenylethylamine (PEA) also known as “the love drug” as well as anandamide, “the bliss molecule” both of which boost your mood! PEA is a trace amino acid that effects the production of dopamine and serotonin, producing a feeling similar to being in love. Anandamide is a neurotransmitter and endocannabinoid that produces a feeling similar to a runner’s high. These benefits are due to the cacao solids, meaning the higher the percentage of cacao, the higher the amount of these compounds. This is the SHORT version of all of the benefits of cacao!

From bean to bar!

So let’s dive into the life stages of the cacao bean and chocolate. Cacao trees are grown in tropical climates close to the equator. The trees grow pods which contain the cacao beans. The pods are harvested and cut open to reveal white flesh encasing the beans. The beans are then fermented for several days to enhance the flavor. Then, they are dried in the sunlight for up to 14 days and then are roasted. They then undergo a process called winnowing which removes the outer shell or husk revealing the inner bean, the cacao nib, which is broken into small pieces. These can be ground down into cacao paste or mass also known as chocolate liquor where commercial hydraulic presses can separate the liquor into cacao butter and cacao powder (6). Alternatively, companies can choose to add more fat and sugar at this stage of cacao liquor to create a chocolate from milk to semisweet to dark. Cacao is often roasted at a lower temperature and cold pressed to preserve the health benefits. Commercially sold cocoa powder is usually roasted at a higher temperature and alkalized (Dutch cocoa) to produce a less-bitter tasting product, but has reduced the health benefits of cacao. 

Chocolate/cacao can be an EXPERIENCE.

Something that I have been looking into and will be ordering myself, is ceremonial cacao! Ceremonial cacao has not had the cocoa butter removed so it retains the benefits present in both the cocoa butter and the cacao solids. Win-win! Remember from earlier all of the health benefits of cacao; a cacao ceremony utilizes these benefits as you drink cacao with an instructor and group that allows for community, tradition, love, and promotes inner healing I reached out to two different companies and received responses from both with information about their heavy metal content in their products which is readily available on their websites. These companies are Keith’s Cacao (https://www.keithscacao.com/ ) and Ora Cacao (https://ceremonial-cacao.com/) (full disclosure, I have no affiliation with these companies nor have I tried them yet!). 

When the chocolate craving is REAL…

While an organic certification on chocolate does not exclude the product from containing heavy metals, it does eliminate other sources of toxins such as pesticides and herbicides. So when looking for chocolate, start with organic and then look for the company’s heavy metal testing reports. Look around at local small businesses that handcraft their chocolate - they most likely will be priding themselves on quality rather than quantity! Also remember that chocolate is a dessert and should be eaten in limited quantity with a balanced diet.

If you’re open to DIY and/or baking/cooking, Terrasoul Superfoods (https://www.terrasoul.com/collections/cacao-coconut) has cacao products including cacao paste, cacao nibs, cacao butter, and cacao powder with recipes on their website. Why I am sharing this brand is because you can email them directly for their third party heavy metal testing reports for whatever product you’re interested in buying. 


And now, I am off to order some ceremonial cacao and get excited to participate in a cacao ceremony ;)

Ommmmm …. chocolate.

Chocolate alternatives: looking to steer clear of chocolate this Valentines Day? Still want something indulgent? Try searching on Pinterest or Google paleo/vegan/GF recipes like cheesecake with fresh berries (preferably organic ingredients if you can), or whatever you’re craving! 


As always, chat soon!

- Nurse Bec


Resources

1. Collado-López S, Betanzos-Robledo L, Téllez-Rojo MM, Lamadrid-Figueroa H, Reyes M, Ríos C, Cantoral A. Heavy Metals in Unprocessed or Minimally Processed Foods Consumed by Humans Worldwide: A Scoping Review. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 16;19(14):8651. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19148651. PMID: 35886506; PMCID: PMC9319294.

2. https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-safety/lead-and-cadmium-in-dark-chocolate-a8480295550/

3. https://www.asyousow.org/environmental-health/toxic-enforcement/toxic-chocolate 

4. https://monographs.iarc.who.int/list-of-classifications/ 

5. https://www.healthandenvironment.org/our-work/toxicant-and-disease-database/our-work/toxicant-and-disease-database/ 

6. https://www.alphafoodie.com/how-to-make-chocolate-bean-to-bar/

7. Samanta S, Sarkar T, Chakraborty R, Rebezov M, Shariati MA, Thiruvengadam M, Rengasamy KRR. Dark chocolate: An overview of its biological activity, processing, and fortification approaches. Curr Res Food Sci. 2022 Oct 15;5:1916-1943. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2022.10.017. PMID: 36300165; PMCID: PMC9589144.

8. Katz DL, Doughty K, Ali A. Cocoa and chocolate in human health and disease. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2011 Nov 15;15(10):2779-811. doi: 10.1089/ars.2010.3697. Epub 2011 Jun 13. PMID: 21470061; PMCID: PMC4696435. 

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