Warning study: Popular chocolate products contain cancer-causing substances

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A team of scientists has claimed that some chocolate sweets available in stores may contain dangerous chemicals that can damage DNA and cause cancer.

Scientists have found that common desserts, such as crepes and pancakes, contain high levels of carcinogens released during the manufacturing process, especially when cocoa beans are roasted to help give the desserts a chocolate taste during preparation.

Scientists at the Louvain Institute for Biomolecular Science and Technology (IBST) in Belgium said that molecules called “alpha-beta-unsaturated carbonyl compounds” are formed during the roasting of cocoa beans and after adding cocoa butter.

They explained that this is a phenomenon that occurs mostly in mass-produced sweets, because companies use higher temperatures for baking, which releases more complex flavors and aromas in their products.

When consumed, carbonyl compounds can damage DNA by interacting with proteins and enzymes in the consumer's stomach, which may cause cells to divide at a faster rate that turns normal cells into cancerous.

The study included about 22 types of sweets with and without chocolate, including crepes, cakes and biscuits, without informing the Daily Mail website about the brands in question, but the scientists said that it included “national and distributed brands that were purchased from Belgian supermarkets.”

The research team discovered that packaged sweets, such as biscuits and crepes, contained concentrations of less than 9 out of 10 carbonyls. Waffles and cakes were found to contain the highest amount of the toxin (4.3 mg per kg) - the recommended amount is only 0.15 mg total per day.

A press release said : “Although carbonyl compounds are found naturally in many foods, they are also used as flavoring additives, some of which have been banned in the European Union.”

The research team hopes the results will provide a better understanding of how and where carbonyls form in chocolate, while highlighting the importance of monitoring added flavors in food.