A bar of chocolate a day keeps bad health at bay

BRITAIN - In Willy Wonka's weird and wonderful factory, chocolate is a magical substance that can be turned into endless confectionery miracles, at the same time as sorting the greedy children from the good and making the world a better place in which to live.

But while Roald Dahl imagined a time in which sweets could be transported by television and a three-course meal would be reduced to a strip of chewing gum, even his creative mind missed one potential innovation - a National Health Service-prescribed medicinal bar of chocolate that cuts heart disease and lengthens life expectancy.

The chocolate industry, threatened with government curbs on advertising, falling profits and demonised by parents and nutritionists for fuelling the spiralling obesity epidemic, is trying to shed its unhealthy image and convince a sceptical British public that it can help rather than hinder the drive for a better diet.

Confectionery companies are spending millions of pounds on research to prove the benefits of the cocoa bean, and develop new, "healthy" products that could be as useful as drugs in treating heart disease and other conditions.

The Masterfoods group, which makes Mars bars among other brands, may not have an army of Oompa-Loompas, but it has spent a substantial part of the profits from its US$18 billion ($25.7 billion) of global sales on setting up the "Mars Nutrition for Health and Wellbeing Business Unit".

A crack team of researchers was charged with coming up with a nutraceutical - a food which has medicinal properties and could have the power to transform the multi-billion confectionery market.

The benefits of chocolate have long been known: it was used in the 16th century to raise stamina and prevent disease, while Indian homeopaths blended preparations of the cacao fruit to treat low blood pressure.

Cocoa beans, from which chocolate is made, are among the best sources of chemicals called flavenols and phytosterols, which are good for the heart.

Flavenols are antioxidants present in fruit, vegetables, tea and red wine, which prevent damage to the cells from normal metabolism, and phytosterols lower cholesterol. In normal processing to make ordinary chocolate, most of the flavonols are destroyed, and the addition of refined sugar and fat makes the finished product high in calories and low in health benefits.

But the Mars team developed a process that preserves the "healthy" chemicals. The result is a chocolate bar called CocoaVia, which contains just 80 calories and high levels of flavenols.

According to the company's website, www.cocoavia.com, the bars are so revolutionary that "one taste and you'll wonder how anything so tasty can be so good for your heart health". It advises consumers to eat two bars a day to ensure they reap all the health benefits.

Masterfoods has also developed a cocoa drink based on CocoaVia, to be taken as a small dose each day.

A British research team found it reduced the risk of blood clots and could be used to prevent heart disease and strokes. The 85ml drink was taken once a day. Blood tests on 16 patients showed reduced "stickiness" of the platelets.

Denise O'Shaughnessy, consultant haematologist at Southampton University Hospital's NHS Trust, who led the research, said: "It had exactly the same effect as red wine and could be good for the heart in the long term.

"Short term it might be good for passengers on long-haul flights to take one of these drinks to reduce the risk of deep-vein thrombosis."

Mars researchers have also developed a top-secret process for replicating flavenols. The company has now patented the discovery and is apparently in "serious discussions" with pharmaceutical companies about the possibility of developing medicines based on the process.

Asked if Mars was seeking to boost sales by attaching a "healthy" label to its products, O'Shaugnessy said: "They didn't sponsor the research. We asked them to supply us with the product. We are constantly on the lookout for natural alternatives to preventive medicines for heart disease.

"Clearly Mars will want to promote their confectionery and they are more aware that they have to be conscious of people's health and fitness."

David Haslam, chairman of Britain's National Obesity Forum, said: "There are lots of 'good' foods which are also high in calories, like oily fish, but if you are overweight you can't tuck into this like there is no tomorrow."

But while our waistbands expand, sales of chocolate are sliding, with volume sales rising by less than 1 per cent last year. The chocolate industry must be hoping that the millions of pounds being poured into the search for healthy products is as profitable as Willy Wonka's golden ticket was for Charlie Bucket.

- INDEPENDENT