New line of healthy snacks containing chocolate for a healthy heart
There's a new product hitting the shelves that will allow people to indulge in their chocolate passion while also being good to their heart. CocoaVia™ is a revolutionary new line of healthy for the heart snacks combining chocolate with ingredients that are formulated to promote a healthy heart.
After more than a decade of research, CocoaVia™ contains ingredients that can significantly reduce LDL, the 'bad' cholesterol levels, and promote healthy circulation to maintain a healthy heart.
Made by Mars Nutrition for Health & Well-Being, a new division of Mars, Incorporated, CocoaVia™ is the only product that contains a patented blend of cocoa flavanols (for a healthy heart) and plant sterols (to lower cholesterol) from soy. The new line is also fortified with calcium, folic acid, vitamins B6, B12, C & E.
Mars first introduced CocoaVia™ granola based snack bars nearly two years ago.Now a full line of CocoaVia™ products including the new chocolate bars, which come in original, crispy and blueberry & almond, and chocolate covered almonds, will be available beginning in October.
Each serving of CocoaVia™ contains at least 100 milligrams of naturally occurring cocoa flavanols, and since each serving is packed with the heart-healthy flavanols, you can eat a relatively small portion and still reap the benefits. That means less fat and fewer calories compared to a regular, larger sized chocolate bar. A small CocoaVia™ Original Chocolate Bar contains 100 calories, while a serving of the CocoaVia™ Chocolate Covered Almonds contains 140 calories.
Research conducted at the University of California, Davis and reported at an American Heart Association meeting found that two servings of CocoaVia™ snack bars a day significantly lowered total and LDL cholesterol levels, without impacting HDL (good) cholesterol. Each snack bar containing 1.5 grams of natural plant sterols from soy.
CocoaVia™ will be sold in the healthy foods section, not the candy aisles, of grocery stores, drug stores and mass merchandisers such as Wal-Mart and Target. The new line of CocoaVia™ products includes the tagline "Be Good to Your Heart Every Day" on the label.
A New York Times report says some nutritionists are skeptical though, saying that the effort seems less of a breakthrough than a sly way to scare up chocolate sales. And with bars having between 80-140 calories apiece and 2-11g of fat it adds up to as much as 280 calories a day.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, a Tufts University professor who is chairwoman of the nutrition committee of the American Heart Association said "That is serious calories." "We can only hope that the consumer is smart enough to realize that you can't just add something on top of what you are normally eating - even if it is good for you - because you are going to gain weight."
The bars will retail at around $5 per box of 5.