It's been proven that chocolate can be healthy in small doses, but this chocolate could actually be taken as medicine, giving you a green light on eating as much as you want.
With a key ingredient such as cacao - which naturally consists of antioxidants and minerals - chocolate bars helps lower blood pressure while heightening the good cholesterol in the body. But these chocolates aren't all good for you, they typically contain at least 70 percent fat and sugar.
Now, American company Kuka Xoco developed a prototype chocolate bar that only has 35 percent sugar and fat, all thanks to an herb from the Andean region of Bolivia and Peru that sweetens the natural pure cacao.
"Using micrograms of coca plant extract, we can de-bitter unsweetened cacao," said Gregory Aharonian of Kuka Xoco.
He continued, "This eliminates the need for sugar, sweeteners and much of the fat in chocolate, unleashing the medical benefits of cacao."
The Boston- and Bolivia-based company claims that artificial sweeteners have failed in the past due to bad taste, in addition to promotion of weight gain and some adverse health effects, as reported by Daily Mail UK.
This new chocolate bar is set for release next year - so folks will have to wait a bit to actually try their hand at this new "medicinal" chocolate.
While speaking at the World Chocolate Forum in London a few weeks ago, Gregory Aharonian said sugar was "the next nicotine," arguing that chocolate could and should be eaten medicinally once the unhealthy ingredients are removed.
"In America, the $100 billion a year chocolate industry could become a $200 billion a year health food industry, if only much of the sugar and fat could be removed," said Aharonian.
He added, "We look forward to working with the chocolate industry to make chocolate the most fun medicine."
Surely he's not the only one excited about that, right?
