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I want you sit down, grab your most comforting emotional support water bottle and get ready for some pretty devastating news. Are you prepared? There’s heavy metal in your favourite dark chocolate. Hey? Are you still there? Phew thought I’d lost you for a second there. You’re looking a bit pale, why don’t you make some tea. I’ve got more to say and you’re not gonna like it at all.  

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“But it’s packed full of heart-healthy antioxidants and has literally no sugar. It’s good for me”. I know babe. You ditched the Dairy Milks to come over to the dark side because you thought you were doing the right thing for your health. And then you realised “wow! dark chocolate is actually delicious” and BAM! just like that were hooked. Before you knew it, Lindt dark 70% sea salt was the first step in your daily night-time ritual. Having your sweet treat never felt (or tasted) so good. I totally get it. I’m a certified dark choc whore. And just like you, i’m devastated. But it’s okay, we’re gonna work through this together.

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Q: WTF do you mean there’s heavy metal in my dark choc?

*I'm confused*

A: I’m not saying that Ozzy Osbourne & Black Sabbath are hiding in your Bourneville, although that would be epic. Not that kind of heavy metal. I’m talking about lead and cadmium: two actual metals (way less epic). Basically, researchers at Consumer Reports tested 28 chocolate bars and found that every. single. one. contained seriously high levels of heavy metals. Not ideal.

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Q: How does metal get into my chocolate?

So nobody’s really sure, but scientists think that cadmium is present in the soils where a lot of cocoa beans grow, and lead-filled dust seems to settle on the beans after they’ve been picked and are left drying in the sun. This defo seems plausible, since the dark choccie bars with higher cacao bean content tend to be the ones covered in metal. Nice.  

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Q: OK, but why should I care?

A: Basically, long term exposure to even small amounts of heavy metals is a one way ticket to a whole host of pretty serious medical conditions with really long and complicated names like hypertension and immune system suppression. Ew. For the majority of the dark choccies that were tested, it was found that eating just 1 ounce per day is enough to put you over the safe limit of heavy metal consumption. That’s pretty risky stuff, won’t lie. The risk is even greater for young children and pregnant women since heavy metals are strongly linked to developmental issues, problems with brain development and even low IQs (there’s a Forrest Gump box of chocolates joke in here somewhere).

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///// THE AVOID LIST ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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///// THE SAFE LIST ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////