First off, the guy on Craigslist is just spinning for his own benefit IMO. That listing is just chock full of lies/untruths. The one that jumps out at me is that ‘all chocolates out there (except his) have fillers, are high processed, made with cocoa powder etc.’ ad nauseam Just plain untrue spin. Dagoba, Scharfenberger, Theo’s and many, many other small chocolate makers start from the bean and keep it simple. What else is he wrong about I wonder?

I will grant (magnanimous of me isn’t it ) that traditionally processed (note, not raw) dark chocolate has a variety of health benefits that he lists, but I don’t know any studies that show raw chocolate does. Just because it is raw and less processed doesn’t mean it is better for you. Just look at soy beans – inedible and indigestible raw, but not the case once cooked or processed.

Patrick, I agree that studies are needed including biochemical reasons. OTOH, don’t jump on lead. That was an old problem and I know of no chocolate currently produced (and I do keep up on it) that contains lead. Dagoba had an issue years ago, traced it to equipment (not the cocoa itself) and that took care of it.

Great, this raw stuff has huge amounts of ORAC. So what? Where is the direct link between that and autism? It sounds good (oh looky, I have a hugh number so it must be better), but that isn’t proof. It’s spin.

Regan: Not to defend raw chocolate (I really hate the taste of the stuff), but unsweetened bakers chocolate is made from the worst of the worst highly processed chocolate and tastes 1000% worse than raw chocolate. Not a good comparison.

Bonnie – M&M’s don’t count in regard to any health benefits. Highly processed, not dark chocolate, specifically milk chocolate, which studies have shown to not have the dark chocolate’s health benefits.

Cait – yep, my take too.

Sharon, I am glad something worked for you, but there is pretty conclusive evidence that milk chocolate shows none of the health benefits of dark chocolate. What you saw is commonly referred to as circumstantial evidence. Not conclusive evidence.

Marita – no, they never do.

Another reason might be that the support communities for autism are relatively new compared to those for DS or CP, and thus haven’t learned some lessons that the more established groups have. They also primarily formed in the Internet era and thus don’t have a tradition of using only vetted sources for information.

OTOH, 85% cacao dark chocolate with expresso bean crunchies and cacao nibs? DELICIOUS.