title: Mineral essential elements for nutrition in different chocolate products.
abstract: In this work, the essential mineral nutritional elements in cocoa beans, in chocolates at different cocoa percentage (60,70,80 and 90%) and in milk chocolate are evaluated. Dark chocolates are confirmed as an excellent source of magnesium (252.2 mg/100 g) and iron (10.9 mg/100 g): in chocolate containing 90% cocoa, their content corresponds to, respectively, 67.0% and 80.3 of Nutrient Reference Values (NRV) in the European Union. The chocolate containing 90% cocoa is also a good source of zinc (3.5 mg/100 g), which is important for the immune system, and selenium (0.1 mg/100 g). Three main components suitable to explain the mineral concentrations are analyzed by factor analysis. The component 1 can be interpreted as the contribution from the cocoa beans, owing to the mineral characteristics of the soil in which they have grown; the component 2 is mainly due to the manipulation and transformation of the cocoa in chocolate, while the component 3 represents the milk powder.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science , Molise University , Campobasso , Italy ;
authors.forename: Luciano
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cinquanta
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medicine and Sciences for Health "V. Tiberio" , Molise University , Campobasso , Italy ;
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Cesare
authors.affiliation: c ARPAm Molise , Campobasso , Italy ;
authors.forename: Remo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manoni
authors.affiliation: d COSIB , Termoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Piano
authors.affiliation: d COSIB , Termoli , Italy.
authors.forename: Piero
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roberti
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medicine and Sciences for Health "V. Tiberio" , Molise University , Campobasso , Italy ;
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salvatori
mesh_terms: D002099:Cacao / Q000737:chemistry; D000069956:Chocolate / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000032:analysis; D008274:Magnesium / Q000032:analysis; D009753:Nutritive Value; D012643:Selenium / Q000032:analysis; D014131:Trace Elements / Q000032:analysis*; D015032:Zinc / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D019266:Iron, Dietary; D014131:Trace Elements; D012643:Selenium; D008274:Magnesium; D015032:Zinc
keywords: Chocolate; cocoa; iron; magnesium; mineral; nutritional values