Who eats the most chocolate?

According to recently discussed Euromonitor data, Around $100 billion worth of chocolate will be eaten globally during 2015. Within this, there are some clear winners and losers where the per capita amount is concerned. Luckily, us Brits are doing a good job of eating our fair share! 

Here’s a run-down of the top ten biggest chocolate eating countries for 2015:

1.       Switzerland        $236.00 of chocolate per person (that’s about £150!)

2.       Ireland                $146.90 of chocolate per person

3.       UK                     $146.00 of chocolate per person

4.       Norway              $145.10 of chocolate per person

5.       Denmark            $105.60 of chocolate per person

6.       Austria               $104.20 of chocolate per person

7.       Sweden              $103.00 of chocolate per person

8.       New Zealand     $97.00 of chocolate per person

9.       Australia            $96.10 of chocolate per person

10.   Finland               $94.60 of chocolate per person

Interestingly, whilst the USA is the largest chocolate market in the world, when comparing per capita values, they rank 20^th at $56.80 per person.

Milk chocolate not surprisingly leads the world but dark and filled chocolate are continuing to see growth trends whilst white chocolate sales are actually on decline globally.

So it would seem that the UK chocolate market is not a bad one to be in at the moment, though we are all perhaps eating as much of the brown stuff as we’re able and so brand differentiation and adding value become much more important to gain market share.

www.sweetretailing.co.uk

 

Is chocolate good for you?

The overall verdict seems to be that chocolate, at least the dark 70%+ variety, is actually good for you in many ways. Who are we to disagree!

There’s reams and reams on the subject of whether chocolate is good for you right across the internet and so we thought we’d just list the key health benefits that are becoming more increasingly reported for chocolate. We’re not talking your typical countline bar though and it is not a green light to eat as much as you can…

Chocolate is good for your brain

Dark chocolate can apparently protect your brain, especially from damage caused by having a stroke. This is apparently due to a compound call Epicatechin which is found in dark chocolate.

Chocolate stengthens your bones

The benefit of white chocolate is that a 50g bar will contain one sixth of your daily recommended allowance of calcium. Be mindful of the sugar level though.

Chocolate can help to lower your blood pressure

Recent research identified a statistically significant effect of chocolate lowering blood pressure, at least in the short term. This is due to the flavanols found in cocoa beans which help in the production of nitric oxide. This in turn stimulates the blood vessels to dilate.

Chocolate contains lots of lovely antioxidants

Dark chocolate contains significant amounts of antioxidants and we’re told that these are great to fight disease. They are also found in many green vegetables…and red wine.

Chocolate might help with PMS

Good news! As chocolate releases endorphins that help to calm us and contains much magnesium, it can be effective at that tricky time of the month.

Chocolate has the potential for cancer prevention

It’s clearly not the answer for all cancers but research is suggesting that some of the compounds found in cocoa can suppress some cancer cells dividing.

So perhaps a certain quality and quantity of chocolate really is good for you. More research is likely to develop this line of thought further I’m quite sure so in the meantime, I’ll remain loyal to my favourite bars of lovely dark chocolate…in the name of health you see.

www.sweetretailing.co.uk

Dark chocolate increases attention span

Yet more research is highlighting the potential benefits of eating dark chocolate. This time it concerns attention and alertness. Could dark chocolate help to keep you focused during the sleepy post-lunch phase?

The research was carried out in the USA, led by Professor Larry Stevens at Northern Arizona University. The team recruited 122 volunteers aged between 18 and 25 years old. Some were given 1g of dark chocolate (60%) for each kg of their body weight whilst others were given a placebo. Carrying out various thinking and memory tasks afterwards, those who ate the 60% cacao chocolate were more alert and attentive compared to those who ate the placebo.

The only negative point appears to be that the 60% dark chocolate also raised the blood pressure of those that consumed it and so there is also experimentation in adding L-theanine (an amino acid found in green tea that acts as a relaxant) to the recipe.

Could it be that we’re going to see further developments in the creation of healthy chocolate brands? This is certainly an interesting development in research surrounding the potential health benefits of dark chocolate.

Be aware that eating Cadbury Dairy Milk or a Mars Bar will not yield the same results! Eating too much chocolate is probably not a good thing either. It is only dark chocolate with a minimum of 60% cacao that might have this most useful effect. I’d swap caffeine for chocolate any day!

www.sweetretailing.co.uk