Healthier Chocolate from Barry Callebaut

CHICAGOChocolate is receiving accolades as a healthy food, but not all chocolate is created equal when it comes to nutritional benefits. To help address the demand for taste-pleasing functional foods, Zurich-based Barry Callebaut introduced its ACTICOA® chocolate products, in dark and milk chocolate varieties, to the North American market at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting & Food Expo in Chicago.

Conventional chocolate-making can destroy a high level of naturally occurring flavanols. According to the company, a special manufacturing process preserves the maximum level of healthy cocoa flavanolsup to 80%in the cocoa bean without compromising taste. This allows the chocolate products to provide guaranteed levels of flavanols, which have been linked to several important health benefits, including the ability to help protect the body against cell damage from free radicals, maintain cardiovascular health, and benefit the skin.

Todays consumers are increasingly seeking out healthier options, so Barry Callebaut has spent years working to reinvent chocolate through innovative research and development initiatives designed to harness the healthy components of cocoa and preserve them in new chocolate products, said Hans Vriens, chief innovation officer, Barry Callebaut.  With ACTICOA, North American consumers will be able to enjoy great-tasting chocolate that has been scientifically proven to have a wide range of health benefitsfrom helping to maintain cardiovascular health to nourishing healthy skin.

Specifically, the company cites the following scientifically proven health benefits due to the regular consumption of the cocoa flavanols found in the functional chocolate:

The process preserves the indulgent, rich and varied flavors found in traditional chocolate, and the chocolate does not contain any additional additives.