Chocolate gluttony at Easter: how much is healthy and when it becomes a concern

Easter time is sweet time. In the week before Easter, Germans buy more sweets than in any other week of the year. Unbeatable in first place: the chocolate Easter bunny. More than 200 million are loud about it Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) produced annually in this country alone – and not just because of its pretty looks. Because of its incomparable taste, chocolate has always been one of the most popular luxury foods. Whether young or old, there is hardly anyone who can resist the candy.

A record was set in 2022 with 239 million chocolate Easter bunnies. This record was not reached this year, there were only 230 million chocolate Easter bunnies this year.

chocolate makes happy

This is by no means reprehensible, after all, food scientists have extracted those ingredients from the cocoa bean that give the luxury food its incomparably special aroma. Only the interaction of several different chemical compounds leads to the uniquely intensive taste of good chocolate.

In addition, the sugar it contains stimulates the reward system in the brain and sends out happy hormones. It has been proven that the messenger substance dopamine triggers a feeling of well-being in the body and leads to the desire to feel that way again – so strictly speaking it is not our fault that chocolate tastes so good to us.

Sounds dangerous, but it really isn’t, because unlike drugs, chocolate isn’t addictive in the long run. Just a lack of self-control can fall victim to the temptation of the popular candy. But is it really that bad sometimes? How much chocolate a day is still acceptable? And how does it affect our bodies?

Cocoa – a true superfood

First the positive sides: It turns out that regular consumption of chocolate can even bring health benefits. The flavanols contained in cocoa – so-called phytochemicals – can make the blood vessels more elastic and thus have a slight antihypertensive effect.

However, the following applies here: the darker the chocolate, the better. The cocoa content of dark chocolate is best chosen with at least 60 percent cocoa mass and contains the most flavanols. White chocolate, on the other hand, is free of cocoa, it only contains cocoa butter – the fat of the cocoa bean – and sugar. In addition to flavanols, cocoa is rich in magnesium, iron, calcium and vitamins E, B1, B2 and niacin.

Unfortunately, the health benefits of cocoa do not give us a free ticket to limitless snacking. After all, conventional chocolate mostly consists of sugar – and in the long run, this not only makes us fat, but also makes us sick.

The problem with the sugar

First of all: sugar per se is not “bad”. However, consumed in excessive amounts, it can lead to overweight and obesity and diseases such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and joint diseases.

According to a study by the German Society for Nutrition (DGE), the German Obesity Society (DAG) and the German Diabetes Society, the direct costs resulting from secondary diseases of excessive and frequent sugar intake are more than 8.6 billion euros annually – reports the “Erztezeitung”.

The three specialist societies also consider the scientific study situation on the negative effects of excessive sugar consumption to be sufficient to recommend specific upper limits for daily sugar consumption: no more than ten percent of the daily calorie requirement of 2000 kilocalories should be consumed in the form of sugar – that’s the equivalent of a maximum of 50 grams of total sugar. This amount alone is on average in a bar of chocolate – or an average chocolate Easter bunny.

The problem: The 50 grams include not only household sugar, such as that found in chocolate or gummy bears, but also sugar from fruit, fruit nectar or fruit juices of any kind. The daily requirement is quickly exceeded – by 40 percent for adults, and even for children and young people by a whopping 75 percent. Too much sugar can then cause a lot of damage in the body: caries, hair loss, skin diseases, listlessness, tiredness or nervousness are just a few of the consequences of a permanently high sugar dose.

How much (Easter) chocolate can it be?

As in many other areas, the guiding principle also applies to chocolate: the dose makes the poison. Since chocolate is very dense in calories but lacks important vitamins, minerals and fiber, it should not make up the majority of the diet at Easter either.

But even if you go overboard during the holidays, it’s not a drama either – as long as it remains an exception. The craving for chocolate only becomes problematic when it occurs in excess every day. Then it’s time for radical withdrawal and a check-up with the family doctor.