Look what the fat in chocolate does, says Yale-New Haven Hospital

Here's a link to an great article on the health benefits of chocolate. Specifically, it addresses the impact of the fats in good, dark chocolate on arterial health and LDL (see below).

http://www.ynhh.org/online/nutrition/advisor/chocolate.html

"Chocolate contains cocoa butter, which is high in saturated fat, yet one-third of chocolate's fat comes from stearic acid. Although it's a saturated fat, stearic acid does not raise LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) as do most other saturated fats. Stearic acid is converted in the liver to oleic acid, a heart-healthy, monounsaturated fat.

"Another one-third of chocolate's total fat comes from oleic acid itself. In a recent study, volunteers followed a diet with the majority of their fat calories coming from either chocolate or from butter. The volunteers who consumed chocolate fat did not show an increase in their cholesterol levels, but those who ate butterfat developed elevated LDL cholesterol levels."

The question in my mind is, if I eat chocolate, will I eat less butter? If so, my LDL should go down...

The article goes on to say that regular chocolate from commercial candy bars contains only about 20% cocoa butter, not enough to give the effect. On the other hand, good quality dark chocolate with 70% cocoa butter content will contain enough of the good chemicals to have beneficial effects.

I recommend reading the entire article -- it contains many important details. PL