Candy makers try to cater to health-conscious chocoholics
Elliot dlinor
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
1
ALBANY, Ga. — It’s every
chocolate lover’s wish that
their favorite indulgence
could somehow be healthy
for them. Now, chocolate
makers claim they have
granted that wish.
Mars Inc., maker of Milky
Way, Snickers and M&M’s
candies, next month plans
to launch nationwide a new
line of products made with a
dark chocolate the company
claims has health benefits.
Called CocoaVia, the
products are made with a
kind of dark chocolate high
in flavanols, an antioxidant
found in cocoa beans that
is thought to have a blood
thinning effect similar to
aspirin and may even lower
blood pressure.
The snacks also' are
enriched with vitamins and
injected with, cholesterol
lowering plant sterols from
soy.
But researchers are
skeptical about using
chocolate for its medicinal
purposes and experts warn
it’s no substitute for a
healthy diet.
“To suggest that chocolate
is a health food is risky,”
said Bonnie Liebman,
nutrition director for the
Center for Science in the
Public Interest.
Recent research has not
established a link between
flavanols and a reduced risk
of cancer or heart disease,
she said. And with obesity
already a serious health
problem, “the last thing
we need is for Americans
to think they can eat more
chocolate.”
A paper published by the
American Heart Association
concluded that chocolate
contains chemicals,
including flavanols, that
have the potential to reduce
heart disease.
But it added researchers
still don’t know enough
about flavanols to make
dietary recommendations.
Other major chocolate
companies also have started
promoting the flavanol
content of their dark
chocolates, such as Hershey’s
Extra Dark, introduced last
fall with highlights on its
label touting its 60 percent
cocoa content and high
level of flavanol.
Dark chocolate, which
contains more flavanols
than regular chocolate, is
the fastest growing segment
of the $10 billion-a-year
chocolate market. Hershey
reports that its dark
chocolate sales have grown
11.2 percent over the past
four years.
Last year, Hershey Co.
acquired San Francisco
based Scharffen Berger
Chocolate Maker Inc.,
known for its dark chocolate
with high cocoa content and
baking products, and plans
to add new dark-chocolate
products.
Mars created a new
division, Mars Nutrition for
Health & Well-Being,
to distribute CocoaVia.
The company has sold the
CocoaVia products online
for a couple years. They are
already available at retail
stores in 34 states, selling
for nearly $ 1 a bar.
“Chocolate ... is the
number one flavor
ingredient in the world,”
said Jimmy Cass, Mars’
vice president of marketing.
“Heart health is the No. 1
concern of adults over the
age of 40 in every civilized
nation. Putting those two
together is automatically a
big idea.”
With the growing
number of baby boomers,
the industry has been
focusing on products that
appeal to them, such as
gourmet chocolates, organic
*
chocolates and “functional”
chocolates, such as
CocoaVia, that may provide
health benefits.
Rachael Brandeis, a
national spokeswoman
for the American Dietetic
Association in Atlanta, said
dark chocolate is a good
source of flavanols, but
so are other foods such as
fruits, vegetables and whole
grains.
“Dark chocolate can fit
into a healthy diet,” she
said. The fat in chocolate
is a type that does not raise '
cholesterol levels, but it can
add unwanted pounds if a
person overindulges, she
said.
“You always have to be
conscious of how much
you’re eating,” she said.
Bush administration moves to sell portions of nationalforest
Set Borenstein
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON — The
Bush administration will
unveil a proposal Friday
to sell up to 200,000 acres
of national forest land in
“isolated parcels” ranging
from a quarter of an acre
to 200 acres, much of it in
California.
The sale is part of a
National Forest Service
plan to raise $800 million
over the next five years
to pay for rural schools
in 41 states, offsetting
shrinking revenues from
sale of timber from national
forests. The Bureau of Land
Management also plans to
sell federal lands to raise an
estimated $182 million over
five years.
Environmentalists charge
that the short-term gain
would be more than offset
by the loss of public land.
Congress would have to
approve the land sales, but
it has rejected similar recent
proposals.
“I am outraged, and I
don’t think the public is
going to stand for it for one
minute,” said Wilderness
Society policy analyst Mike
Anderson. “It’s a scheme to
raise money at the expense
of the national forests, the
wildlife, recreation and
all the other values that
Americans hold dear. It’s
the ultimate threat to the
national forest.”
Jerry Taylor of the Cato
Institute, a libertarian think
tank, said the proposed land
sales make sense.
“Private property will
end up in the possession
of those who value it the
most,” Taylor said. “That is
an iron law of economics.”
Details about what
plots of land would
be put up for sale are
expected to be revealed at
a noon press conference
by Undersecretary of
Agriculture Mark Rey, a
former timber industry
lobbyist. The Forest Service
owns 193 million acres
of land and plans to sell
about 175,000 to 200,000
acres, according to Forest
Service spokeswoman Heidi
Valetkevitch.
“They could be
theoretically from every
national forest,” Valetkevitch
said. “California has a lot
on the list, I understand.”
The lands in question
aren’t environmentally
sensitive wilderness or
protected scenic areas,
Valetkevitch said. “It could
be something that’s in a
neighborhood that people
don’t even know is forest
land,” she said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., attacked the plan
as “crazy,” saying: “Here
the administration wants to
pass more tax cuts for the
rich, and to pay the bill,
they want to sell off public
land — our nation’s natural
heritage.”
The Forest Service owns
20 percent of California,
including much of the
Sierra Nevada, Lake
Tahoe, Big Sur and dense
forests along the Oregon
border. The Bureau of
Land Management owns
15 percent of the Golden
State.
Rural schools get 25
percent of federal forest
timber sale proceeds, but
those revenues have fallen,
so the idea is to sell forest
land to make up for that,
Valetkevitch said.
Anderson of the
Wilderness Society argued
that money for rural schools
could come from many
sources and that the land
sales are being proposed “so
the budget deficit doesn’t
get worse.” He noted that
if forests are sold, future
federal timber sales likely
would yield even less money
for rural schools.
The president’s new fiscal
2007 federal budget calls
for the bureau to raise $1
million in 2007 land sales,
$28 million in 2008, $40
million in 2009, $42 million
in 2010 and $71 million in
2011.
Dave Alberswerth, a
Wilderness Society senior
policy adviser, said that
would be “way more than
they have been selling in
recent years.”
From 2000 to 2004, the
bureau sold 13,160 acres for
an average price of $320 an .
acre, he said. At that rate, * |
the government would have
to sell more than half a
million acres to garner $182
million.
dm • conTinucD PRom i
a new reality of “buyer
beware” in both their
stomachs and their wallets
when it comes to ordering
a cocktail.
Prices are up, while drink
sizes are down from 1.7
ounces of booze to as little
as 1 ounce. Some bars sell
discernibly watery drinks;
in others, it’s a given that
making friends with the
bartender makes the shots
more generous.
One of the biggest
complaints is the loss of
consistency from bar to
bar — or from bartender
to bartender. Among those
in a stupor over the change
is Savannah Williams of
Mount Pleasant, who said
going to a bar today is akin
to playing a game of Russian
roulette.
“My first vodka-cranberry
was so weak, I questioned
whether there was any vodka
in it,” she said last week on
the deck at Red’s Ice House.
“Then, my second one took
my breath away.”
Williams said she tears the
chance she could get overly
drunk has increased because
of the free-pour system —
not decreased, as Statehouse
advocates advertised.
That’s because previously,
everyone knew what to
expect from a factory-sealed
1.7-ounce minibottle, she
said.
South Carolina’s switch
to free-pour was approved
by voters in 2004, causing a
ripple effect across the state.
Bars had to train bartenders
on how to use a jigger. New
multi-brand recipes had to
be learned. Shelves to hold
stock had to be reconfigured
to hold the bigger bottles.
Whether the change will
benefit or hurt the state’s
bank account is unclear.
Gone is the easily tracked
25-cent tax that the state
was guaranteed for each
minibottle sold. The new
state tax is 5 percent of the
cost of the drink, meaning
a $5 drink carries a 25-cent
state sales tax.
Some insight to the tax
benefits could come in the
next few weeks. January
business tax records for
liquor sales aren’t due to the
state Department of Revenue
until Monday. Then several
weeks will be needed to
calculate and match against
last year’s total, department
spokeswoman Stephanie
Jones said.
Tom Sponseller, executive
director of the S.C.
Hospitality Association, said
the comments he’s heard
from bar owners have been
mostly positive. But one
of the drawbacks, he said,
is that some sites are still
serving drinks in 10-ounce
glasses.
That was fine during the
minibottle days, he said,
when the ratio of mixer
to liquor was 4-to-l. To
correct the ratio, drinks
need to be served in 8
ounce glasses, he said.
Some bars changed
portion size without
changing the size of
glass, he said, which
greatly affected the taste
of the drinks they serve.
“Everyone is in a learning
curve right now.”
Another problem has
been in supply. Some
specialty or quality brand
liquors haven’t been able
to keep up with demand,
Sponseller said.
But more businesses have
been receptive than not, he
said.
Contrary to popular
belief, the minibotde might
never totally disappear
from South Carolina bars.
The law says bars can now
sell free-pour liquor; it
doesn’t mandate it. Some
bars have opted to keep the
minibottles.
“We have not changed
at all,” said Steve Kish, a
partner at 82 Queen. “We’re
one of the holdouts.”
Comments on this story? E-mail
gamecocknews@gwm.sc.edu
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