Chocolate manufacturers have invested millions in advertising that dark chocolate is good for you for quite a while now. However a UK medical journal now claims that many manufacturers are removing the flavanols, which is the healthy element.

The flavanols help neutralise free radicals that could damage the body’s cells by producing oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is the cause of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and diabetes.

Manufactures have in the past removed flavanols because they create the bitter taste.

Sandra Capra from the University of Newcastle, has come to the defence of dark chocolate stating that the health properties of dark chocolate are real and should not be dismissed so lightly.”The evidence is there, that dark chocolate is a good alternative to milk chocolate and is a source of some key anti-oxidants,” she said. “Anyone already on a healthy and balanced diet should be able to indulge occasionally in one or two squares of dark chocolate and benefit from a few health benefits as well.”

Bridget Aisbett, spokesperson from the British Nutrition Foundation agreed that the information on chocolate bars does not say how healthy the chocolate actually is. She also said that chocolate should not be regarded as health food, but rather as an occasional treat, as chocolate does contain alot of fat.

Chocolate was first identified between 2000-500BC when it grew wild in Central America and was used purely as a drink. The Cacao bean was also used as money with 100 beans the payment for a slave.

When Hernan Cortes met Montezuma in 1549, the Spanish explorer was mistaken for their god Quetzalcoatl who had returned from the wilderness. He was showered with gifts including the cocoa bean. The Spanish kept the cocoa bean a secret with only the rich able to afford it.

In 1615 due to the marriage of Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip 11 of Spain, to Louis Xiii the secret of chocolate crossed into France.

By 1650 chocolate had filtered its way to England, but remained for the next 200 years as a drink and still only for the rich.

In 1847 the grandson of Joseph Fry invented a way of mixing cocoa butter with cocoa paste to produce the first chocolate bar. This opened the flood gates and George Cadbury, Joseph Rowntree, and Joseph Storrs Fry started to mass produce chocolate.

Ever since then chocolate has been in the minds of most people with an average of 7oz consumed per person a week. The confectionery industry is now worth well over £5 billion in the UK, with huge advertising for christmas, Valantines Day, Mothers Day, and Easter.

Facebook a social networking site set up a campaign to re-launch Wispa chocolate bars. The campaign was so successful that Cadbury gave in and the Wispa bar was back in the shops in August 2007.

Following on from this success several groups on Facebook are now trying to get Wispa Gold re-launched.

Cadbury’s had pulled the bar in 2003 after two decades of declining sales. Tony Bilsborough, a Cadbury spokesperson in an interview said “We have noticed the web interest for some time and the consumer passion has undeniably swayed our opinion to re-launch Wispa. This is the first time that the power of the internet played such an intrinsic role in the return of a Cadbury brand.”

More and more companies are turning to social network sites like Facebook and Myspace as a free marketing tool.

Cadbury’s have announced that Joss Stone will be the first non-model to be the new Flake girl.

Joss Stone is from Devon, and has a string of UK hits. The new TV commercials will hit the the screen in the spring.

Flake’s first commercial was in the late 1950s and since then have starred a string of well known models including a former Miss World.

Cadbury’s wanted Josh Stone as she will bring a “fresh take” to the adverts.

There has been three trends that dominated the chocolate industry in 2007. These were Healthy confectionery, Premium chocolate, and Ethical chocolate.

The biggest of the trends have been Healthy chocolate with many companies adding healthy ingredients to their products, and promoting the benefits of cocoa. The higher the percentage of cocoa the higher the higher levels of antioxidants.

This has resulted in higher sales of dark chocolate, with companies such as Ferrero Rocher releasing new dark chocolate versions.

The next tend is the increase in sales of Luxury and premium chocolates. Truffles have seen an increase in demand, and in August Nestle announced the re-launch of Black Magic, its dark chocolate range. The trend showed that customers were trying to cut back on chocolate, so were buying a luxurious treat rather than lots of standard chocolate bars.

The final trend for 2007 was the increase in demand for Ethical chocolate, as consumers wanted to know where the chocolates had come from.

The Fairtrade Labelling Organisation International (FLO), global sales figures for fairtrade products increased by 37 per cent to £758m in 2007. This figure is set to increase in 2008 with Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s selling their own brand Fairtrade chocolate.