Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels
Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels
Why Is Dark Chocolate Bitter? The Compounds Behind It
by Mo Mandegar, PhD
on Aug 22 2026
Somewhere between 70 and 85 percent, chocolate stops being a treat for a lot of people and starts being a test. The bitterness is not a flaw in the bar, though. It is a fairly precise readout of the cocoa bean's chemistry: polyphenols at 12 to 18 percent of dry weight, plus theobromine and caffeine. Here is what each compound contributes, and why a more bitter bar is not automatically a more antioxidant-rich one.
Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels
Is Dark Chocolate Anti-Inflammatory? What Research Shows
by Mo Mandegar, PhD
on Jul 18 2026
Dark chocolate keeps showing up on anti-inflammatory food lists, and it is not wishful thinking. Cocoa is one of the most polyphenol-dense foods there is, and recent trials link its flavanols to lower inflammatory markers, with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein falling about 8.4% a year on a daily cocoa flavanol dose. Here is what the research shows and how much to eat.
Protein & Nutrition Blog – Marmels
Antioxidant-Rich Snacks: Which Ones Actually Deliver
by Mo Mandegar, PhD
on Jun 01 2026
The antioxidant score that once ruled food packaging was pulled from official databases in 2012, so how do you actually pick an antioxidant- rich snack? By polyphenol content. On that measure, cocoa and dark chocolate rank near the top, carrying several times the polyphenols of most fruits. Here is how the strongest snacks compare, gram for gram.
