Features: Health & Fitness

By Terri Coles

TORONTO (Reuters) - Chocolate in the U.S. must contain cocoa butter, which gives the treat its characteristic creaminess, but a petition before the FDA would allow foods without it to still be labeled "chocolate".

Several food manufacturers, including the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, support the petition, which could save chocolate makers money. But those opposed say the change would create confusion without benefiting consumers and lower the standards for chocolate when it is enjoying a higher profile, thanks in part to evidence of its possible health benefits.

To make chocolate, the beans in cacao pods are fermented, roasted and ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which can then be separated into cacao solids (or cocoa powder) and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter and cocoa powder or chocolate liquor are blended with sugar to make chocolate; milk solids, flavoring and emulsifiers can also be added.

While cocoa powder or chocolate liquor gives chocolate its flavor, cocoa butter provides the texture. Among cocoa butter's unique properties is that it melts at just below body temperature. "It's not cocoa solids, it's the cocoa butter that we love," said Cebele May, a writer who covers chocolate and other candy at Candy Blog.

The proposed changes are too wide-ranging, said Gary Guittard, CEO of the Guittard Chocolate Company, allowing a manufacturer to replace all the cocoa butter or use any vegetable oil. The result would be a "hybrid kind of chocolate-flavored product," said Guittard, who is running a campaign against the petition.

Currently, manufacturers can make treats with another fat in cocoa butter's place, but aren't allowed to call them "chocolate".

"Why is it good for the consumer and why should the FDA permit this to be done, when it's really just confusing to the consumer because we don't prefer this non-cocoa butter chocolate," May asked. "If we did, then they wouldn't want to call it chocolate." Of the 10 best-selling chocolate candies in the U.S., nine are made with real chocolate. The exception is Butterfinger.

A recent study showed that foods with cocoa seem to lower blood pressure, and cocoa butter may also provide some health benefits. It contains stearic acid, a naturally-occurring compound with cholesterol-lowering properties. Although it has saturated fat, cocoa butter is actually cholesterol-neutral and does not raise "bad" low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

New rules would allow manufacturers to add fats without this unique benefit in cocoa butter's place, said Guittard. The petition says the substitution must be nutritionally similar, but that refers to vitamins and minerals, not fats. "There are a lot of saturated fats they could put in there that aren't so great," he said. The Chocolate Manufacturers Association said in a statement that they are not in favor of adding vegetable fats with trans fats to chocolate.

"I think this is a really inopportune time to propose this kind of a change. I think it's kind of moving against people's desires," said Emily Stone, whose blog Chocolate in Context looks at the food's cultural impact.

But many of the benefits of chocolate are seen mainly in the dark variety, not the milk chocolate used in the best-selling candy bars, while other studies involve cocoa powder and not processed chocolate. It's also thought that processing cocoa powder into chocolate reduces the concentration of compounds like flavonoids.

Even high-quality chocolate is still high-sugar and high-fat. Dark chocolate has some properties that are beneficial to human health, said Stone, and has less added sugar. But that should be considered a bonus and not a magic bullet. "You should have a balanced diet, you should eat well," Stone said. "If you like chocolate, enjoy it."

"Yes, it is junk food," May acknowledged. "Let's face it " chocolate is not the most important thing in the world, but it's important that we keep the sanctity and the unified product as it is. There's no reason for us to split it off into this amalgam product when we don't have to, especially when there's no benefit to us."