The world’s largest producer of chocolate, Barry Callebaut is seeking out the health-conscious market and plans to offer not only “guilt-free”, such as no-sugar, ranges but also “good-for-you” chocolate.

The company’s secret is polyphenols, a natural ingredient in vegetables and fruit that are plentiful in cocoa beans but are partly destroyed in the process of making chocolate.

Polyphenols could prevent cancers and cardiovascular diseases, and tests in rats have already shown they can help improve memory and the ability to learn.

“What started this off is the so-called French paradox,” Barry Callebaut’s head of research, Dirk Poelman, told Reuters. ”People in the south of France live longer although they drink a lot of red wine and eat fatty cheese.”

Red wine also contains polyphenols but Poelman said the levels in dark chocolate were double those in red wine, and four times higher than in green tea.

Sweet success

That could prove to be the firm’s formula for success.

Barry Callebaut, whose own retail brands include Sarotti and Gubor, has developed a way of preserving the polyphenols in the process of making chocolate from the cocoa bean, to be sold under its Acticoa trademark.

The polyphenol-rich “good-for-you” chocolate as well as sugar-free “guilt-free” chocolate were launched in April in Belgium. A German launch will follow in May.

Because most of the polyphenols -- antioxidants that are said to be good for cholesterol levels, blood pressure and long-term memory -- are lost in fermentation, a proportion of beans in Acticoa chocolate are just washed but not fermented.

It is still early days for the project. Based in Switzerland, which has the highest per capita chocolate consumption in the world, the firm has yet to give sales targets or estimates of the size of the market for these new products.

“Indications so far have been very positive,” Poelman said, adding that more studies should be completed in the second half of the year.

Barry Callebaut, created in 1996 by merging Callebaut with French rival Barry, has now teamed up with universities to scientifically prove the health benefits for humans of its polyphenol-rich chocolate.

“We can’t make any claims yet so we are doing these tests,” Poelman said. “The point with this chocolate is that you eat it because it tastes nice and then on top of that it can also be good for you.”

Dark chocolate lovers

For now, polyphenols seem to be a godsend only for lovers of dark chocolate.

“There is a debate about milk chocolate as it is not certain that the polyphenols are still active in combination with milk proteins,” Poelman said. “The dark chocolate tastes like normal chocolate. It is for real dark chocolate fans.”

The chocolate firm, which had sales of over 4 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) in its 2003/04 business year, is moving into the all-important health food market just as it booms.

“All the important players are in the health market now,” said Poelman. “One doesn’t want to miss out there.”

McDonald’s has started offering more healthy menu items such as salads and apple slices. And food giant Nestle is moving its focus away from converting raw materials, say into chocolate bars, to higher-margin foods such as its LC1 yoghurts.

“We are going to start in Europe because that is where we are strongest, but we are looking at North America as well,” Poelman said.

Being well-placed in a country where food companies such as McDonald’s face obesity law suits and consumers are ever more health-conscious, will be a key component of the marketing drive.

”That is certainly a very important market,” Poelman said.