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Anyone care for a bit of chocolate?

Forget coffee. At the end of a dinner party, experts are saying, you might want to offer some of the sweet stuff as an after-dinner treat that could be as good for you as it tastes to your palate.

Well, not exactly the sweet stuff - when you're talking about chocolate it's actually the unsweetened variety that provides health benefits.

"It is dark chocolate," said Linda Kelleher, a clinical dietician at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. "It has antioxidants that are disease fighting."

And doctors aren't the only ones wise to the health benefits of dark chocolate. Consumers are catching on, too. According to the Web site confectionarynews.com, dark chocolate has become one of the most rapidly growing sectors in the confectionery market.

The site reported last year that dark chocolate accounts for 19 percent of chocolate sales worldwide, and that figure could well increase. 7-Eleven plans to include more dark chocolate on its shelves this year as part of an effort to sell "better-for-you foods" at its stores, according to Convenience Store News.

And, last year, M&M's Brand Candies introduced a limited edition, dark chocolate version of its famous candy for the first time in the company's 64-year history, msn.com reported.

Made of the right stuff

In American industry, chocolate is a combination of cocoa (solids of the cacao bean) and cocoa butter (the fat component).

Chocolate in its purest form - unsweetened or dark chocolate - is chocolate liquor, used as bitter or baking chocolate, that has a strong, deep flavor.

To get the health benefits, you need as close to pure cocoa as you can get.

"It's actually the cocoa powder (used for baking) that provides the most benefits," Kelleher said. "Dark chocolate in its pure form is the dried extract of the roasted beans."

Milk chocolate has condensed or powdered milk added to it for the smooth taste; white chocolate is a confection based on just the cocoa butter and actually contains very little of the cocoa solids.

Keeping it pure and simple In his book, "The Real Age Makeover," Dr. Michael Roizen, who has become famous for, among other things, co-authoring two books with Dr. Mehmet Oz, one of Oprah Winfrey's favorite talk-show guests, suggests that eating "real chocolate" is one ingredient to improving your health.

He explains that the fat in milk chocolate metabolizes in your body as a healthy or unsaturated fat, which he says should make up about 25 percent of your daily calories.

"Cocoa-butter based chocolate is a wonderful, age-reducing fat," Roizen states. "Milk or trans fat-based chocolate is an aging fat, so choose the youth and great taste of real, dark, cocoa butter-based chocolate. You'll have to read the label to find it."

Getting the facts

Finding it might not be that difficult. The baking and candy aisles of Stop & Shop in Attleboro's Mayfair Plaza offer several options for some real chocolate indulgence:

Hershey's Special Dark bar contains 45 percent cacao and doesn't taste too bitter; Ghirardelli's dark chocolate squares contains 60 percent cacao; and Lindt's Excellence dark chocolate bar contains 70 percent cocoa. For baking, Ghirardelli's bittersweet chocolate chips contain 60 percent cacao, and 100 percent real cocoa powder is available from several chocolate manufacturers.

Real dark chocolate is also on display at The Chocolate Shop on Mansfield Avenue in Norton.

Owners Peter and Pam Kanellias, big fans of the pure stuff, are very careful about the ingredients they use and can recommend several options for those who aren't yet accustomed to the taste of pure chocolate.

"People are definitely starting to understand the benefits of dark chocolate and they are coming in looking," Pam Kanellias said.

She said popular items include her dark chocolates with cayenne, a spice that is also good for you, and her dark chocolate barks, which have some nuts. There also is a dark chocolate infused with Earl Gray tea and her ganache, a mixture of chocolate and cream.

A little goes a long way

A bonus of eating dark chocolate, she said, is that people often find they are satisfied with small portions.

"They'll eat just one piece instead of a whole package of something else," she said. "Not only does it taste good, but it's not as bad as eating a whole strip of cookies."

Roizen even suggests following his example of eating chocolate before a meal, which he has found makes him eat less during the meal.

Kelleher said some studies have shown that dark chocolate provides benefits to the heart and brain, can improve blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol.

Of course, the key is to consume it in moderation.

"Remember, a chocolate bar has large amounts of sugar, butter and cream," Kelleher said. "They're saying 1.5 ounces a day of chocolate or 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, maximum."

REBECCA KEISTER can be reached at 508-236-0336 or at rkeister@thesunchronicle.com.