Nutritional composition and fatty acids profile in cocoa beans and chocolates with different geographical origin and processing conditions

M Torres-Moreno; E Torrescasana; J Salas-Salvadó; C Blanch

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.141

Nutritional composition and fatty acids profile in cocoa beans and chocolates with different geographical origin and processing conditions

Food Chem. 2015 Jan 1:166:125-132. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.141. Epub 2014 Jun 5.

Authors

M Torres-Moreno¹, E Torrescasana², J Salas-Salvadó³, C Blanch⁴

Affiliations

¹ Health Sciencies and Welfare Faculty, Department of Health and Social Action, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain. Electronic address: miriam.torres@uvic.cat.
² Health Sciencies and Welfare Faculty, Department of Health and Social Action, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain.
³ Human Nutrition Unit, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, IISPV, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Reus, Spain; CIBERobn Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Food Science Research Group, University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Vic, Spain.

PMID: 25053037
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.05.141

Abstract

Nutritional composition and fatty acids (FA) profile were determined in cocoa and chocolates of different geographical origin and subject to different processing conditions. Cocoa butter was the major nutrient in cocoa beans and carbohydrates were the most important in chocolates. Cocoa composition and FA profile varied depending on geographical origin whilst in chocolates only carbohydrates and fat content varied significantly due to the effect of origin and no significant effect was observed for processing conditions. Both for cocoa and chocolates differences in FA profile were mainly explained as an effect of the geographical origin, and were not due to processing conditions in chocolate. For cocoa, differences in FA profile were found in C12:0, C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C17:0, C17:1 and C18:0 whilst for chocolates only differences were found in C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:2. For all samples, C16:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:2 were quantitatively the most important FA. Ecuadorian chocolate showed a healthier FA profile having higher amounts of unsaturated FA and lower amounts of saturated FA than Ghanaian chocolate.

Keywords: Chocolate; Cocoa beans; Fatty acids profile; GC–MS; Total fat.

MeSH terms

Cacao / chemistry*
Fatty Acids / chemistry*
Mass Spectrometry
Nutritive Value

Substances

Fatty Acids