Does Dark Chocolate Contain More Iron Than
Beef?
There are many
veg sources of iron, such as chick peas and various beans,
broccoli, spinach, brown rice, dried figs and apricots, and brown
sugar and molasses. Dark chocolate probably shouldn’t be an
everyday food, but now and then, it might be a good
choice:http://www.care2. com/greenliving/ iron-dark-
chocolate
-contains-more- than-beef. html
Some brands of
dark chocolate come without dairy.
According to the website, Nutritiondata.com, a one ounce serving of dark chocolate contains 19
percent of the US RDA for iron. Yet an ounce of beef sirloin only contains 3 percent.
Is dark chocolate really that high in iron? Why
hasn’t anyone told me this?
Data from USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard
Reference shows: Chocolate, dark, 70-85 percent cacao solids, value
per 100 grams is 11.90 milligrams of iron. Beef, bottom sirloin,
tri-tip roast, separable lean and fat, trimmed to 0″ fat, all
grades, cooked, roasted, value per 100 grams is 1.66 milligrams of
iron. Beef, ground, 70 percent lean meat / 30 percent fat,
crumbles, cooked, pan-browned, value per 100 grams is 2.48
milligrams of iron. So these two information sources state
that dark chocolate does contain more iron than some cuts of beef,
and not just a little more. (I’m currently holding a dark chocolate
bar and the wrapper says 100 grams is 3.5 ounces).
Now I’m not suggesting that anyone use dark chocolate as a staple,
or primary source of iron. The chocolate bar I’m holding contains
27 grams of saturated fat, and that’s way too high to eat the whole
thing at once, or even in a day. Also, my post here is not an
exhaustive scientific study. I just wanted to share an example (one
of many) showing that beef is not the only source of iron, nor the
highest source of iron, and that we may find there are many sources
beyond what we have been told via messages in the mainstream media.
My apologies if you were already aware of the many non-meat sources
of iron, including dark chocolate.