Objective: To compare, in humans, the digestibility of moderate amounts of cocoa butter (30.7 g/d) consumed in the form of chocolate as part of a normal western diet with that of a well-absorbed fat (corn oil); and hence determine whether, by virtue of its apparent low absorption, cocoa butter can be considered to be a low calorie fat.
Design: Randomised, two-period crossover metabolic study, conducted under free-living conditions, but with strict control over food intake.
Setting: Metabolic Unit, Nestlé Research Center Lausanne.
Subjects: Twelve healthy men were selected from volunteers at the Nestlé Research Center and all subjects completed the study.
Intervention: Two treatment periods of two weeks each: cocoa butter and control periods, with strict dietary control separated by a two week wash out period.
Results: No differences (P>0.05) were observed in faecal weight (wet or dry), faecal fat nor in defecation frequency between treatments (cocoa butter and corn oil). Cocoa butter at a dose of 30.7 g/d in the form of black chocolate, consumed between two meals, was found to have a similar digestibility to that of corn oil (99 % of corn oil digestibility).
Conclusion: Cocoa butter, consumed as back chocolate within a normal mixed diet, has a high digestibility, similar to that of corn oil, and a digestible energy value of 37 kJ/g in man. Thus, cocoa butter cannot be considered to be a low-calorie fat.
Sponsorship: Nestec Ltd, Switzerland. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2000) 54, 120-125