As usual, I was getting my daily dose of Straight Dope today, running through random articles, and I happened upon this one about carob and its nutritional value as compared to chocolate.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/317/is-carob-really-healthier-than-chocolate
This was written a long, long time ago - before I was born in fact. So I’m certainly not pointing any fingers here. However, this one line below gave me pause…
“both carob and chocolate are basically nonnutritive flavorings.”
Hasn’t chocolate (especially dark chocolate) been proven to have all sorts of nutritional value? Or am I just confusing what “nonnutritive” really means? I’m no expert or anything, but I’m sure I’ve heard somewhere about chocolate having tons of antioxidants / flavinoids, and also certain vitamins and minerals. Do these things count as nutritive?
And how about carob? I’ve never even seen the stuff myself (at least not that I know of). But if chocolate has been proven to have nutritional benefits, does carob stack up against it? Does carob have any antioxidants, vitamins or essential minerals that are nutritious for us?