After reading that dark chocolate is good for your heart health I started having two squares of Lindt 70% chocolate daily for approximately the past 4 years, all the while thinking that, as well as the fact that I love chocolate, I was doing something good for my body. I just read an article that was posted about the dangerous levels of cadmium and lead that were in some chocolate products which included the one that I was eating. I know it’s our responsibility to monitor what we are consuming, but never ever thought that a manufacturer of a well known and trusted product would be allowed to sell an item that (according to the many reports I found online) contained such dangerous levels of a contaminant. Needless to say I will not be consuming any more of their chocolate, but feel that they must correct the problem, remove the product entirely, or at the very least be required to note on their product that it can be dangerous to your health, much the same as cigarette manufacturers must do.
The dangers of chocolate!: After... - Atrial Fibrillati...
The dangers of chocolate!
Goodness, thanks for warning us.
That’s not good. Thank you for letting us know.
G'day Snoopy,
Thanks for that.
I'm one of those miserable, grumpy oldies that never trust a manufacturer of anything ... no matter how big their research dept. After your post I'm glad I'm like I am.
..... why ? - because they are motivated by profit, i.e. Big Pharma
John
Which brand are you referring to?I eat choc. as yuou do and only dark so feeling some concern.
if you Google “cadmium and lead in dark chocolate” it will pull up many sites discussing this and several show the breakdown in each candy bar. The Lindt 70% is what I was eating and it’s on the “very high” list.
Im also distressed to learn my favorite 70% dark chocolate by Lindt was on the list of high in cadmium. This site does testing and reviews of various foods and supplements that are not tested by US FDA since they are not regulated.
consumerlab.com/reviews/coc...
. I think you have to pay to get to the article unfortunately. I find this site well worth the money…I think about 50$ a year now. They also have a major review on magnesium and other vitamins, minerals, etc. one of their recommended dark chocolates was by Taza so I bought a pack of those. Don’t like as much as Lindt but I assume safer. Consumer Reports also did some testing and you may be able to get to their report more easily by googling. Yes, it’s a major drag….was so happy to learn dark chocolate is good source of magnesium. But then there’s this nonsense.
Taza 95% dark chocolate gets the unrecommended
Lindts dark is 5.8 mcg cadmium
Taza dark is 6.8 mcg cadmium
To be approved they have to be under 3mcg ( from my observation)
Montezuma's® Dark Chocolate Absolute Black - 100% Cocoa is the only UK chocolate brand I can see that is fully recommended, As its a US site it deals mainly with US products.
Yes that's what I eat. Montezuma's® Dark Chocolate Absolute Black - 100% Cocoa is the only UK chocolate brand I can see that is fully recommended. Have done for the last 3 years.
Never get my AF now.
All the best.
Roy
Thanks for sharing that. Montezuma 100% is the only chocolate I eat - good to know it's recommended.
thanks for the correction Sleeksheep. But to make things more complicated, it was the Consumer Reports test on chocolates that recommends Taza 70% as being a safer choice, while it seems Consumer Lab found Taza 95% dark chocolate to be unsafe.
consumerreports.org/health/...
I don’t like chocolate above 70% which is why I bought the Taza. But really, how are we to make sense of this? If you can’t trust a particular brand it makes it difficult. Sorry for the confusion.
ConsumerLab.com accepts money from companies for good reviews. There aren't any labs that I've found that are actually on the consumer's side and not profit's side. It wouldn't be hard since consumers are hungry for such information, but big pharma and the other usual suspects have ways of suppressing objective information about, for instance, supplements like nattokinase that are as effective and less dangerous than prescription anticoagulants "if only" there was reliable information about which brands actually had the dosage they claimed. Search engine it and see the recent posts about nattokinase if you're interested.
I believe that the CSPI is honest and doesn't take money. you can access their excellent newsletter Nutrition Action at nutritionaction.com. I have been subscribing to this for years.
ConsumerLab.com accepts money from companies for good reviews.
I have subscribed to Consumerlab for many years and I only need to mention a bad review from them on IHerb to get my money back on supplements that have failed their testing. I would regard them very highly.
They dont accept money for reviews - but they allow any product that has passed their testing to use the Consumerlab seal of approval.
Just read their reviews on Red yeast rice - its outstanding for its honesty.
correction….see comments below. Taza 70% dark chocolate was on the “safer” options from Consumer Reports assessment while Taza 95% dark chocolate was unrecommended by Consumer Lab as Sleeksheep points out. I confused results having read both reviews. So I guess it depends on what you eat and which source you trust most. Makes it different for the consumer for sure.
~Thank you for sharing this info - out goes my Lindt & will continue with Whitakers - hopefully they (the latter) not on the list?!!
Personally I am more likely to reject any dark chocolate that has high amounts of sugar, Whitakers is good but at 27% sugar I stay clear of it . There is not a lot of choice in supermarket brands - Lindt 90% cocoa is still my usual.
As others have said you would need to eat an awful lot of chocolate to get cadmium at a sufficient level to create problems. ( still prefer not to have to make choice unknowingly )
Whitakers gets a tick of approval here..
Thank you. I do eat Lindt. But I will look up other makes.
Eat montazuma 100%. It is low in all metals. I researched it.
I like the dark chocolate that they sell at Walmart, their house brand, it's delicious and often just a dollar a bar. but where can we find that list of dangerous dark chocolate???
I have a rule of thumb for this sort of thing - if its nice and I like it, then its no good for me ....
😂
~Too true - I say that too 
Thanks for the warning. Never gave it a thought before.
I hate chocolate, I’m a rare breed! Lol 🦊
Me too, I think we are among a rare few. 
Don't hate it but would rather have Doritos.
That's awful Snoopy, thanks for letting us know. I would greatly recommend the Co-ops Fairtrade plain dark chocolate. Their 70% is the best flavour in the world, Their 80% not bad either. We've tried all sorts but settled on this for our daily fix!
cbi.eu/market-information/c... uk gov source. Apparently most of our cocoa comes from west Africa. Cadmium is a result of volcanic activity in the area and only cocoa from the Americas can be liable with this problem ( but not ALL are) but West Africa is not subject to this problem. So just check out the source.
There is another table here in this article..
consumerreports.org/health/...
I read about this 'scare' last year and was shocked to find the organic cacao I was buying to make chocolate slice for my little twin grandsons was high in lead and cadmium so I stopped making it.
The bar of dark chocolate I bought for myself went in the bin anyway, I dislike dark chocolate and find it bitter and hard to eat . The the last bar of Cadburys milk chocolate I had also went in the bin, I found it horrid the taste has changed since it was taken over and in my view ruined by an american company .
Dark chocolate contains healthy flavanols which is why it was suggested we eat it, lots of other foods are high in flavanols including berries .
webmd.com/diet/foods-high-i...
Quote from one of the reports:
"An Ottawa-based researcher says it's important to remember just how much dark chocolate an average person would need to consume to hit risky levels of lead or cadmium.
"It's a candy that you are not eating like one kilogram every day on a daily basis. As a person who eats one or two pieces of dark chocolate on a daily basis, I'm not too worried about it," said Yaxi Hu, an assistant professor in Carleton University's chemistry department's food science program and lead of the university's Food Analytical Chemistry and Technology Laboratory.
As the lead appears to enter the food chain some time after harvest, that is a real concern but cadmium is apparently taken up by the cacao plant from the soils.
This is one of the original consumer reports: consumerreports.org/health/...
I suspect it applies to all chocolates not just dark ones but as these contain more actual chocolate the result is more pronounced. But as the 'recommended' dose is one or two pieces (and in the Lindt chocolate these are extremely thin pieces) as said, any bad effect must be very limited.
In fact, there are numerous of other sources of cadmium in our diets many among what are considered 'healthy foods':
healthpedian.org/cadmium-he...
"Foods Most Contaminated with Cadmium
For non-smokers and people who are not occupationally exposed to cadmium, food is the main source of cadmium exposure. However, heavy smokers can absorb as much cadmium from tobacco smoke as they do from food.
Cadmium readily accumulates in aquatic organisms such as molluscs (snails, mussels, oysters, scallops, octopuses, squids and chitons), crustaceans (lobsters, shrimp, crabs, crayfish, prawns, krill) and fish and in agricultural plants including tobacco, leafy vegetables (e.g., broccoli, lettuce, spinach), soybeans, peanuts, grains (including rice), sunflower seeds, potatoes, starchy roots and cocoa beans. The use of phosphate fertilizers contributes to increased levels of cadmium in plants. In addition, cadmium uptake by plants is higher in acidified soil. Other foods high in cadmium are liver, mushrooms and dried seaweed. Contamination of drinking water with cadmium is for most people in the world a much smaller health concern than contamination of foods.
Paradoxically, many of the foods that are on the list of health foods of most dieticians, such as seafood, broccoli, soybeans or cocoa, also happen to be among those most contaminated with cadmium. In fact, seafood is not only high in arsenic and mercury. For some populations, it is also the chief source of cadmium exposure."
My advice is that if you just consume the small amount of chocolate recommended and it does you good (it makes me feel very much better when I consume it each afternoon!) then continue taking it but be aware of the potential danger. Don't worry too much.
Absolutely gutted as I too have 2 squares a day. It is my happy place. Lead isn't good for the body at all - especially if you're hypothyroid. Which I am. Am checking out the new Heavenly Brand - vegan and a tiny amount of sugar. Any news on that one in the article?
No its not on the list but as its 70% cocoa butter it will not have the flavanols that are the good part of chocolate . Cocoa butter has 0% flavanols.
They also recommend - if your eating chocolate for the flavanols , dont buy chocolate made by the Dutch process as this severely reduces flavanols.
Even the dark one? I'll do a check in case I've given the wrong brand
I have just found I have high copper and low zinc at the same time I find out chocolate is high in copper and to be avoided. Can't win can we?
Good for magnesium though which was why I was eating it.
Hi
Oh.
I eat Lindt 80% dark.
The Hot one. With the red chilli on the front.
I was told to eat before 2pm.
I eat 2 or sometimes 4.
Have you got the article.
cheri. JOY. 74 (NZ)
My son is a real fan of ultra-dark chocolate and I've been discussing this with him for a while. After looking into it rather deeply, as is his way, he decided that there is a possible problem but also that toxic chemical elements in general such as lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic, chromium and others seem to be increasing in many modern foodstuffs thanks to intensive farming, fishing and industrial practices.
For chocolate, in particular, the article below is interesting:
consumerreports.org/health/...
Steve
I'm not a fan of chocolate, can take it or leave it so as long as they keep cadmium out of Doritos, all's good.
I have PAFib and have been told by my consultant to avoid dark chocolate, alcohol, tea and coffee as they may bring on an episode. But that’s because of the caffeine content. But cadmium and lead is something else altogether. I’d be interested to know if anyone else has been told to avoid dark chocolate.
Since my AF journey started 8 years ago I have given up alcohol, caffeine , highly spicy foods and been hooked on hot chocolate made with mainly Cacao powder, looks like another one to bite the dusk, just praying Evian water never gets on the hit list as I drink 2 litres a day! I have just looked at some of the reports and am grateful for you pointing the dangers out. Many thanks
Thank you so much for letting us know. Is there a clue somewhere on the packaging for us to look out for?
Good morning Snoopy, your post has got me thinking.........
I keep to a fairly strict diet, but do allow myself one luxury - McVities dark chocolate digestive biscuits, which I love. I ration myself to approx one per day, thinking this is relatively harmless, but now I know about the cadmium and lead threat, maybe I should think again! Unfortunately, I cannot find any details of the choolate content of this product anywhere online
I think you are all worrying unnecessarily. If we looked for something bad in foods we would probably find it in most things and end up with a very boring and restricted diet. 2 squares of dark chocolate a day is not a lot and the pleasure it gives probably offsets any harm . Happiness too makes you healthy and small treats make you happy.
amen!
I agree with you that there are likely other foods that are harmful to us that we consume without knowing what’s really in them. I also agree that “happiness too makes you healthy and small treats make you happy”, however I also realize that it’s important to know what’s in something we ingest daily. A friend of mine simply passed on the information to me out of concern knowing that I ate my chocolate every day, and although I’ll absolutely miss that “small treat” every day, will now find my “happiness”elsewhere. I simply passed on this information out of concern for many of you that also consume chocolate daily, not to eliminate anyone’s pleasure.
I find my heart is affected by caffeine so only eat one square of Lindt 70% per month. I'm also allergic to soy which is in most chocolate but strangely not on the list of ingredients. They use such small amounts of soy I suppose they don't have to list it. Lindt is free from soy. The amount of trace metals in the chocolate is nothing to be worried about if you don't eat a lot.
I would think you’d have to eat about 10 ton of the stuff over 50 years for it to cause you a prob. I’d be more concerned about what’s lurking in your water supply and washing up liquids, nasty ‘enes” such as benzene etc.. found in cleaning products, or way more likely, how close you live to a nuclear power station….
The source list is here — of the iffy brands, only Lindt is sold in the UK, I think.
consumerreports.org/health/...
Pretty much all our food is now contaminated with something — really difficult to escape it, even (as the lists shows) supposedly organically-sourced ingredients.
Think I'll carry on with my modest organic dark choc treats and keep on sourcing as much of mu food as I can that's fresh, locally-grown, organic, and hopefully as chemical-lite as possible!
My mother ate Bourneville dark chocolate every day and more than a couple of squares, plus cocoa drinks twice a day and she lived until she was 95
I actually think it would be more beneficial if someone would publish a list of what we can eat - I cannot think of a single thing that is without its dangers !
Hi Snoopyjackson thanks for your post I have just looked at the Consumer research results on the chocolate and they are quite shocking. Very occasional eating of milk chocolate would seem to be better advice
oh help. Life becomes complicated. I too love 85% dark choc or even 90%. Don’t like the 100%. Have browsed google re cadmium and from what I gather it is the cocoa tree which takes it up and there is more in soil from volcanic areas. I wonder if chocolate in the US has more S American origin than European chocolate? I gather that many fruit and veg also have cadmium. I cannot stop eating everything and am not sure that 2 squares a day are going to do me much harm, esp at my age.
Wow. Thanks for the info! Lindt is absolutely my favourite chocolate - the dark chocolate with chilli and the dark chocolate with salt are to die for.....but not literally.....so I guess I'll be changing brands. Bummer.
I doubt that the extremely small amount of lead and cadmium in your chocolate is harmful, especially with the amount that you consume. If you live in an older house with older plumbing, you very well may be ingesting more lead from your drinking water. Consumer Reports and other "watchdog" groups are (IMO) notorious for pushing panic buttons either needlessly, or without proper qualifying statements. A further example is here in the States with the ongoing furor over gas stoves!
I enjoy watching HGTV, and always have to laugh when they say, " We found Asbestos, now the entire house has to be cleaned at much expense" The fact is most older homes, both contain Asbestos and Lead Paint. America panics over every little thing! I remember playing with Asbestos as a kid. My lungs are still functioning.
Oh dear, as Lindt is my favorite brand. Thanks for your post!
We eat one from Trader Joe’s. I found an article talking about chocolate with the lowest amounts of cadmium and lead. TJs is in the US not sure if you all have them in the UK. They sell a lot of organic products.
What will it actually do to you? I love Tesco’s dark, and don’t want to have to give it up 😭
Hello SnoopyJ, I like you did the same thing gave up regular chocolate for dark chocolate 90% cacao until I found out chocolate has a caffeine in it which we who have afib know that is not good. I've just given up chocolate; as much as I enjoy it. We learn something every day. Have a Blessed Day!
If we stopped eating and using all the products that could harm us, we would all be dead by now.
well I buy 85% if I can get it. Also if I can, I buy Hotel Chocolat what’s needed is, quantity listed and length of time eating it, are these things a natural occurrence in the beans?
Quantity overload’!
I'm smugly eating my way through some brazil nuts, not a bit of chocolate in sight, but, oh how I would love them smothered in the dastardly stuff. If anyone has anything bad to say about brazil nuts please DONT tell me. Ta x
One piece (at a time) Good News Chocolate is good for you
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