吃巧克力真的会影响健康吗？

Europe has moved a step closer to putting a health halo on dark chocolate.

欧洲朝着给黑巧克力加上一层健康食品的光环这一现实又迈进了一步。

On Tuesday， the world‘s largest chocolate manufacturer， Barry Callebaut AG， won the backing of the European Food Safety Authority for its claim that cocoa flavanols， or compounds that can also be found in dark chocolate， can be good for blood circulation.

前不久，全球最大巧克力生产商百乐嘉利宝（Barry Callebaut AG）提出的可可黄烷醇（此类化合物也存在于黑巧克力中）可能有利于血液循环的声明获得了欧洲食品安全局（European Food Safety Authority）的认可。

While the request to use the health claim still awaits approval from the European Commission， the food agency’s blessing indicates that confection makers including Nestle SA and Kraft Foods Inc.， which markets the Cadbury brand overseas， may soon be able to make a health claim on product labels.

尽管使用这项健康声明的申请仍需等待欧盟委员会（European Commission）的批准，但是欧洲食品安全局的认可表明，包括雀巢（Nestle SA）和卡夫食品（Kraft Foods Inc.）在内的糖果生产商或许很快就能在产品标识上使用该健康声明。卡夫食品还在海外销售吉百利（Cadbury）品牌产品。最终的决定预计将于明年年初做出。

A final decision is expected at the beginning of next year.

百乐嘉利宝是全球最大的可可买家之一，该公司称这项健康声明可以被用于雀巢和卡夫等客户的包装上。该公司还预计，该声明在巧克力饮料、谷物棒和曲奇等产品中的应用将能带来巨大的市场潜力。百乐嘉利宝添加了高黄烷醇含量可可产品的客户将能把这项声明用在产品和包装上。

Barry Callebaut， one of the world‘s largest buyers of cocoa， says the health claim could be applied by its customers to the packages for customers including Nestle and Kraft. The company predicts considerable market potential for applications in items like chocolate drinks， cereal bars and cookies. Barry Callebaut’s customers using high-flavanol cocoa products would be able to apply the claim on their products and packaging.

为了给其申请提供依据，这家瑞士企业还在去年提交了相关证据。该证据显示，每天摄入200毫克可可黄烷醇有助于正常的血液流动。这个份量比较少，因为10克（只有0.35盎司）高黄烷醇含量的黑巧克力就含有200毫克黄烷醇。

To back up its request， the Swiss company last year submitted evidence that the intake of 200 milligrams of cocoa flavanols a day contributes to normal blood flow. That‘s a small portion， as 200 milligrams of cocoa flavanols would be found in 10 grams-a mere 0.35 oz.-of high-flavanol dark chocolate.

黄烷醇已被证明能够降低血压、改善血液流动并降低心脏病风险，这至少在部分程度上是因为它可以促进可使血管舒张的一氧化氮的生成。然而，不可忽略的是，巧克力棒也含有糖分和脂肪。

Flavanols have been shown to lower blood pressure， improve blood flow and reduce heart-disease risk at least in part by stimulating production of nitric oxide， which relaxes vessels.Chocolate bars also include sugar and fat， however.

自2005年以来，百乐嘉利宝开展了20多项临床研究来调查可可黄烷醇对人体的影响。该公司使用的可可粉和巧克力产品通过其开发的一种特殊工艺生产，可保留高达80%的黄烷醇含量，而传统的巧克力生产流程会破坏掉大部分黄烷醇。

Barry Callebaut carried out more than 20 clinical studies looking at effects of cocoa flavanols on people since 2005， using cocoa powder and chocolate products made through a special process it developed that preserves up to 80% of flavanols， which would be mostly destroyed in conventional chocolate-making procedures.

在欧洲食品安全局的支持之下，百乐嘉利宝是欧盟27个成员国中第一家获得有关可可黄烷醇积极效果的官方认证的企业。如果它还能获得欧盟委员会的批准，那么它将被授予在欧盟区内使用可可黄烷醇健康声明五年时间的权利。

With the backing of the European food authority， Barry Callebaut is the first company in the 27-member bloc to obtain an official validation of the positive effects of cocoa flavanols. If it gets approval from the EU Commission， the chocolate maker would be granted the right to use the cocoa flavanols claim for five years within EU countries.

在海外但不在美国本土销售吉百利产品的卡夫公司表示，“只要这些健康声明真实无误、没有误导性并且得到了有资质的科研人员的适当证明，我们支持在所有产品类别上使用它们。”

Kraft， which sells Cadbury overseas and not in the U.S.， said， ’We support the use of health claims on all product categories as long as these are truthful， not misleading， and appropriately supported by qualified scientists.‘

好时公司（Hershey Co.）则夸耀称，其好时可可粉和好时特浓黑巧克力是黄烷醇抗氧化剂的天然来源。

Hershey Co. has touted that its namesake Cocoa and Special Dark versions of chocolates are natural sources of flavanol antioxidants.

对于食品公司而言，附带健康声明的食品正成为一个越来越重要的利基市场。在欧洲经济增长乏力的情况下，品牌食品被价格更便宜的产品抢去了一些市场份额，因此这些公司希望借助销售价格更高的这类产品来抵消销售的萎缩。根据欧睿信息咨询公司（Euromonitor International）的预测，到2015年，全球健康食品及饮料市场的市场总值有望从2010年的6010亿美元升至6910亿美元。