Your health

Fits in a healthy and balanced diet

When developping our chocolate and products, Cavalier researches look to fit the resulting product into a healthy and balanced diet. 

In the table below, you can see the results of average deficiencies and overconsumptions of nutrients in a Western diet. (taken from statistical analysis of the NHANES database). 

It surprised us to see that in average we do not take more calories than recommended. But when we think further, there is a logic. It is known that in average we do not have enough physical exercise. So, if there is a problem related to calories, it is the lack of physical exercise, not eating too much calories. 

So, we don't eat to much? Yes and no. Of certain nutrients we do eat too much, but of other nutrients not enough. We've lost the balance. 

Cavalier chocolate, rich in fibers and containing lots of magnesium and zinc, but on the other hand not containing added sugars, fits into a modern Western diet and healthy lifestyle.

Sweet and healthy

In the chocolate that Cavalier favours, there is no glucose, granulated sugar or fructose added. However, we all love sweet things and our taste buds demand more sweet things than are recommended in a healthy diet. That is why Cavalier went in search of alternative sweeteners in order to keep all the good qualities that cocoa beans possess and to sweeten the bitter cacao taste in a way that fits a healthy and natural lifestyle. It is therefore of the utmost importance to choose well from the large range of sweeteners. Sweeteners differ in numerous ways: sweetening power, taste and texture, energy release, their effect on blood sugar and their effect on the body (e.g. no tooth decay).

All sweeteners are different

We can largely divide sweeteners into two different groups, i.e. the intensive sweeteners (release no or negligible amounts of energy and have no effect on blood sugar) and extensive sweeteners (often from a natural source and for the most part release little energy and have a limited effect on blood sugar, and above all have a sweetening power that is roughly the same as that of sugar).

Unlike most polyols (extensive sweeteners), sweeteners from Stevia do not have a laxative effect. Sweeteners from Stevia are intensive sweeteners.

What’s more, our own dieticians, food engineers and chocolate confectioners, supported by the Universities of Ghent & Leuven, KHBO and the KAHO Ghent, are continuously looking to further optimise the products, in terms of both taste and health.