US scientists produce ‘low-fat’ chocolate

Thanks to technological advances, we may be able to eat “tastier” chocolates and yet be guilt-free, with no worries about their high fat content.

Physicists from Temple University in Philadelphia, USA, were able to trim down the fat content of the chocolate ingredient in Mars chocolate bars by more than 10 percent after fueling electric fields through its liquid chocolate during the manufacturing process, according to reports from the tech news site The Verge and from The Telegraph.

The engineering technique applied to the liquid chocolate, called electrorheology, modifies the microstructure of chocolate to make it “healthier” and “safer” for diabetics and fat-conscious consumers.

Presenting their study at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, the physicists further expounded that electrorheology bombards solid cocoa particles to cluster together in chains, therefore breaking the particles’ symmetry and reducing both the viscosity and amount of melted fat in the chocolate.

The example the physicists cited was when they diminished the viscosity of a sample of Mars chocolate by 43.5 percent, which is more than 10 percent of the chocolate bar’s total fat.

Positively, the study jotted down beneficial facts of chocolate, such as its healthy effects to the cardiovascular system and blood circulation, according to Business Insider.

“Some people even claim that ER[electrorheology]-treated chocolate has a slightly stronger cocoa solid flavor, better than the original chocolate,” the authors said.

“We are thus expecting a new class of healthier and tastier chocolate products soon,” they added. Gianna Francesca Catolico