Snacks
Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate at 70% cocoa or above is a legitimate source of flavanols and magnesium. It is also the one food on this site with a real, documented heavy-metal question.
Organic upgrade priority
Residue data does not apply
- →Pesticide residue monitoring does not apply to this food in the same way.
Key numbers
- Nutrient density
- 70/100
- Per calorie, across the whole database
- Typical price
- $3.99
- per 3.5 oz bar · organic +25%
- Servings a week
- 1.8
- Per person, at typical purchase volume
What to look at instead
Pesticide residue monitoring does not apply to dark chocolate the way it does to fresh produce. These are the measures that actually decide the purchase.
- Cocoa content to look for
- 70%+
- Below that, sugar is the first ingredient
- Added sugar
- 6.8 g per oz
- At 70%; a milk chocolate bar runs roughly triple
- Cadmium & lead
- Documented
- Independent testing has found some bars above California Prop 65 thresholds. Cadmium comes from soil uptake; lead from post-harvest handling.
- Practical guidance
- One ounce a day
- Portion is the lever that resolves both the sugar and the heavy-metal question
Nutrition
Per 1 oz (28 g).
170
calories
2.2 g
protein
3.1 g
fiber
6 mg
sodium
- Flavanols
- Magnesium 15% DV
- Iron 19% DV
Buying and storing
- ◆Organic certification does not address cadmium, which comes from the soil the cacao grew in. Varying brands and origins does more than the organic label here.
- ◆The white bloom on an old bar is fat or sugar migrating to the surface. It looks bad and tastes fine.
Common questions
›Is dark chocolate a healthy choice?
Dark chocolate at 70% cocoa or above is a legitimate source of flavanols and magnesium. It is also the one food on this site with a real, documented heavy-metal question. A 1 oz (28 g) serving provides 170 calories, 2.2 g protein, and 3.1 g fiber, scoring 70/100 on nutrient density.
›Does dark chocolate need to be organic?
Pesticide residue monitoring does not apply to dark chocolate the way it does to fresh produce, so this site does not assign an organic upgrade priority. The label buys you a defined set of production standards rather than a measurable change in residue evidence.