Posted on 11/04/2007 3:36:21 PM PST by fanfan
Most of us need no excuse to tuck into a bar of chocolate. But here's one anyway.
Choxi+ is made by Prestat, chocolatiers to the Queen.
And it is bursting with healthboosting antioxidants - natural compounds said to stave off everything from heart disease to cancer.
Refinements to the manufacturing process mean the product, which goes on sale today, is said to contain up to three times more antioxidants than other brands.
So high are the levels that just two small squares apparently contain more antioxidants than a pound of Brussels sprouts or an incredible 5lbs of apples.
And the even better news is, it's said to taste terrific.
Available in both dark and milk varieties and in mint and orange flavours, Choxi+ is the first chocolate bar designed to be extra-rich in antioxidants.
While the price of £1.99 per 70g or 75g bar might make it more of a luxury than an everyday snack, Prestat claims those two squares a day will provide all the health boost a person needs.
Tests carried out for the London-based chocolate-maker, which holds a royal warrant, show that weight for weight, Choxi+ contains higher levels of antioxidants than any other food.
As well as sprouts and apples, that also includes such superfoods as broccoli, spinach, raisins, blueberries and raspberries.
As dark chocolate is naturally far richer in antioxidants than milk chocolate, the squares in the dark bars are smaller to ensure chocolate-lovers get the same benefit, no matter which variety they choose.
There are 14 squares to a 70g dark bar and only six to a 75g milk bar.
A spokesman for the company, which is keeping the finer details of the manufacturing process secret, said the health benefits of Choxi+ meant no one need ever feel guilty about enjoying a few squares of chocolate again.
"It obviously contains quite a few calories - although you might be pleasantly surprised to learn that a whole 75g bar of Choxi+ milk chocolate contains 409 calories, while a bar of dark chocolate has only 356."
Alasdair McWhirter, editor of the best-selling book Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal, said: "You should still aim to have your five fruit and vegetables a day because they contain fibre and other nutrients not found in chocolate.
"But if you keep to two or three squares a day, you shouldn't feel guilty at all, in fact you can feel rather virtuous about it."
Choxi+ is available from larger Tesco stores, Prestat's London shop in Piccadilly and on line at www.choxiplus.com.
• Britons are the chocaholics of Europe, munching their way through 605,000 tons of it a year - around a stone and half each.
Apart from the taste, one of the key attractions is that chocolate makes us feel good - stimulating the release of chemicals more normally associated with sex and exercise.
One ingredient of chocolate, theobromine, has proved to be better at suppressing a tickly throat than the medication used in cough mixtures.
Epicatechin, one of a group of antioxidants called flavanols which occur naturally in cocoa beans, appears to be able to stave off illnesses from heart disease to cancer.
Most people get that one backwards.
It’s not a dumb question. It’s a perceptive one.
The article doesn’t discuss where the supposedly ‘good-for-us’ antioxidants are coming from. Garlic grown in China? Spare me.
Our genes probably play more of a role in our life spans then how many veggies we eat.
For FReepers, what is not reported, is as important as what is being reported.
:)
Um.
It's not?
Because that sounds like pesticides or something!
Yuck.
Chocolate.....Yum.
Someone ping me if you find a way to get it across the pond.
Good night everyone.
:-)
CHOXIE bars in various flavors are sold at TARGET. Not Choxie+, the parents.
I suspect I would need a few more. Yummmm, chocolate!
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. If two squares a day are good for you twelve squares a day might make me immortal.
Nothing more than a liberal trick to deny us another pleasure.
Here’ how it works; you only need two squares, right?
Up until now a person needed to eat how much? TEN squares?
We just have been swindled out of eight squares!
I'm started to get creeped out by how the food industry is pumping food full of stuff to make it super-food - as opposed to having people just enjoying a healthy diet of whole foods.
I’ve hershey’s nice to stir into some coffee...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.