A lower fat chocolate may be on its way to a store near you. It has taken a long time to crack the code but scientists have finally got it down: the secret to making chocolate with a lower fat content lies in electricity.
How? Scientists have figured out that if they apply an electric field to flowing, liquid chocolate, they can change the microstructure of the particles in the treat, causing them to change shape. Electricity applied parallel to the direction a river of chocolate is flowing causes the particles to join together, forming short chains, which reduces the fat content of the substance.
Yes, science is weird- but what a great thing! The problem with making lower-fat chocolate prior to this, is that it would flow too slowly through the equipment and clog all the machinery up in the process.
This has so far made it impossible to manufacture a low-fat chocolate bar. The higher fat content present in normal chocolate has been required to make the liquid flow quickly through the equipment, ensuring that everything runs smoothly, kind of like those potato chips that work to keep me in a good mood. Take the fat out, and my mind gets gummed up.
How changing the formation of the particles in chocolate lowers the total fat content remains unclear, but the important point is that, apparently it does.
So, the study detailing this new discovery, published recently in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is likely being hailed as a game-changer in the world of candy bars.
Not into electric fields in your food?
According to goodtoknow.co.uk, the European Milky Way chocolate bars have one of the lowest fat contents out there as chocolate bars go. They have about half as much fat as other bars and just 100 calories in each piece.
Good to know if you can get your hands on one. Because I’m not nearly bikini-ready and I’m getting hungry.
Photo Credit: ivan_kislitsin/Shutterstock
