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Dark chocolate is low in sugar, full of antioxidants and has been shown to be good for your heart and brain. These health benefits are likely why one-third of adults say it’s their preferred chocolate, so you might think it’s a great treat for their kids, too.
But pediatricians and nutritionists say there are a few things to know before doling out dark chocolate to your little ones.
“It would be recommended that the child not eat dark chocolate in excess and avoid providing it before bed,” Amy Reed, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told HuffPost.
The main reason is that dark chocolate contains caffeine, she explained.
While there’s no harm for most kids to eat some dark chocolate (and any other kind of chocolate), moderation is key, explained Anet Piridzhanyan, a clinical dietitian in the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“All foods, including candy, have a place at the table,” she told HuffPost. But here’s what you should know about giving your kids dark chocolate.
How much caffeine is in dark chocolate — and is it too much for kids?
An ounce of dark chocolate with 60-69% cacao contains 24 mg of caffeine, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s about the same amount as a quarter cup of coffee, Beth Natt, system medical director of pediatrics at Atlantic Health System, told HuffPost.
“Small amounts are likely to be well tolerated,” she said. But larger amounts could bring side effects similar to what adults experience when they have too much caffeine: difficulty sleeping, anxiety, diarrhea, vomiting and elevated heart rate and blood pressure.
As a stimulant, caffeine often has a bigger impact on growing bodies than on
adults, added Piridzhanyan. The Food and Drug Administration recommends that adults limit their caffeine intake to 400 mg a day — but the agency doesn’t have recommendations for kids.
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests kids avoid caffeine, Natalie Rine, director of the Central Ohio Poison Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, told HuffPost. The Canadian Paediatric Society agrees with that recommendation, but since caffeine is found in many foods and beverages, Health Canada has published healthy daily caffeine limits by age:
- Kids 4-6 years: less than 45 mg (the equivalent of about 2 ounces of dark chocolate)
- Kids 7-9 years: less than 62.5 mg
- Kids 10-12 years: less than 85 mg
- Kids 13 and older: less than 2.5 mg per kilogram of body weight
- Adults: less than 400 mg
“If a child is eating dark chocolate in excess, then they could be consuming excess amounts of caffeine,” Reed said. Most likely, they’re not getting all their caffeine from dark chocolate, though, Natt added.
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