Updated March 2023
The FODMAP content in plain chocolate depends on both the portion size you eat and the type of chocolate: milk, dark or white. If you’re on the low FODMAP diet, you’ll want to stick to low FODMAP portions. But chocolate can influence the classic symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome for reasons beyond just FODMAPs, which I’ll review below.
The Monash University FODMAP app categorizes the FODMAP content of the different types of chocolate based on a “typical” Australian portion size of 30 grams.
(Ok hold up – 30 grams is a ‘typical’ amount Australians eat in one sitting? Aussies must have some serious willpower! When I sit down to eat chocolate, I tend to throw back closer to 50 grams – which looks like half a Lindt bar).
At 30 grams, dark chocolate is low FODMAP (green light), and both milk chocolate and white chocolate are moderate FODMAP (yellow light).
Chocolate 101:
To really understand what’s going on with chocolate, FODMAPs, and the influence of other ingredients on IBS symptoms, understanding chocolate basics is helpful.
Chocolate is made from cocoa beans found inside the cocoa pod. After the cocoa beans are fermented and roasted, they’re crushed to release the cocoa nibs inside. These nibs are ground to a fine paste called cocoa liquor, also known as chocolate liquor or cocoa mass. Cocoa mass contains both cocoa butter and cocoa solids (1).
Cocoa butter can be extracted so it can be used as a single ingredient in chocolate. Really smooth dark chocolate will have extra cocoa butter to create that melt-in-your-mouth texture without milk.
To make the chocolate we eventually eat, manufacturers mix various ingredients into the cocoa mass. Common ingredients in chocolate include sugar, milk, cocoa butter, vanilla, and soy lecithin.
Milk chocolate and IBS
Since 30 grams of milk chocolate is moderate FODMAP, it’s best to steer clear of this serving size on the low FODMAP diet.
The Monash FODMAP app has a low FODMAP serving size of 20 grams. Yup, 20 measly grams. To a chocolate lover such as myself, that’s close to microscopic, but if you feel you have the inner strength to eat 20 grams and put the rest away, then by all means enjoy!
The Monash app lists both the grams and the number of chocolate squares that correspond to a green light serve. Because chocolate squares can vary so greatly in size, I suggest you use the grams to guide your portion sizes.
The FODMAP in milk chocolate is – you guessed it! – lactose. There is roughly 5-6 grams of lactose in 50 grams of milk chocolate, similar to the amount found in 1/2 cup of milk. This would suggest that if you have lactose intolerance, you might want to keep your milk chocolate intake to a minimum.
However, the only study I could find that evaluated the effect of lactose in milk chocolate on gut symptoms found that neither lactose-free chocolate nor lactose-containing chocolate triggered symptoms when lactose-malabsorbers consumed 100 gram portions (2).
A hundred gram portion is big (the size of a Lindt bar), and would contain 10-12 grams of lactose. So if lactose malabsorbers tolerated 100g of milk chocolate, it’s possible you might too.
This is only one study, though, so at the end of the day, I suggest that if you’re on the low FODMAP diet, stick to the green light serving sizes in the Monash app.
Can you eat dairy-free chocolate instead?
Since Monash hasn’t tested a dairy-free milk chocolate, I suggest you check to make sure the dairy alternative used in place of cow’s milk is low FODMAP.
For example, EnjoyLife makes a chocolate bar with rice milk so it’s likely low FODMAP. Lindt, on the other hand, has a vegan bar made with oat milk. Oat milk can be high in GOS and fructans, and we don’t know how much is in the bar.
If you want to eat dairy-free milk chocolate on the low FODMAP diet, stick with milk chocolate made with rice milk to be on the safe side.
Is there anything else in milk chocolate that might trigger IBS symptoms?
Why yes there is! Some of you might even be familiar with this ingredient: sugar.
The sugar in milk chocolate is sucrose. Sucrose consists of a molecule of glucose attached to a molecule of fructose. Sucrase isomaltase is the enzyme that breaks the bond between glucose and fructose so the body can absorb them.
Some people with IBS have genetic variations that suggest they may not produce enough sucrase isomaltase (3,4). If the body doesn’t break down sucrose, it remains in the gut. The undigested sucrose attracts water, and bacteria in the large intestine ferment it, thereby producing cramping, gas and possibly diarrhea.
Research has found that a reduced sugar diet can markedly improve overall IBS symptoms. One study even found reduction in extra-intestinal symptoms like joint pain and tiredness (5,6).
So maybe eating teeny tiny portions of milk chocolate is a good idea for people with IBS.
Could you eat sugar-free chocolate instead?
Sugar-free chocolate contains a sugar alcohol called maltitol in place of the sugar (be it cane sugar, raw sugar, maple syrup, etc). Sugar alcohols are one of the FODMAPs known for triggering cramps and diarrhea.
A wee 25g of sugar-free Lindt milk chocolate contains an ample 10 grams of maltitol. That’s a lot of sugar alcohol. If you’re not on the low FODMAP diet and you plan to eat 4 squares (50g) of sugar-free chocolate, you’ll be eating 20g of maltitol! Even people without IBS can get gut symptoms from a portion size like that.
Dark chocolate & IBS
Generic dark chocolate is low FODMAP at 30 grams. Lactose suddenly appears at 80 grams, making it moderate FODMAP. This is a bit of a noodle scratcher because good dark chocolate doesn’t contain any dairy products. I imagine the Monash scientists tested lower quality grocery store dark chocolate, as well as baking chocolate like semi-sweet chocolate and bittersweet chocolate as part of this food category.
At 125 grams, dark chocolate is high FODMAP due to the increased fructan content. This isn’t surprising since chocolate is plant-based and plant foods contain carbohydrates.
Monash tested 85% dark chocolate as well and found that 20 grams is low FODMAP. A note in the Monash app states that GOS (aka galactans, a member of the oligosaccharide family) is present at 350 grams. GOS? What happened to the fructans that we saw in the generic dark chocolate? Also, who the heck is eating 350 grams of 85% dark in one sitting?!
I recently had the privilege of tasting Qantu’s Tresor Cache 80% single-origin dark chocolate that looked like milk chocolate, softly broke apart instead of snapping, had a smooth fudgy texture and tasted like sweet dark chocolate with nutty notes. It was utterly fascinating and compelling.
Is there anything else in dark chocolate that might trigger IBS symptoms?
Again, the answer is yes! Fat. And maybe caffeine.
Dark chocolate is high in fat, a lot of which is saturated fat. Thirty grams (30g) of 70% dark chocolate has 12 grams of fat. Ouch – that’s a lot of fat for such a small amount of chocolate. And if you’re anything like me, you probably eat more than 30g at a time so your fat intake goes up further.
Roughly half of people with IBS report that symptoms are triggered by fatty foods (7). Studies that infuse fat into the small intestine have found increased pain in people with IBS compared to people without (8). Fat has been shown to affect gut motility by impairing the movement of gas through the intestine (9), which can contribute to bloating, distension and pain.
Coffee can trigger IBS symptoms, but not necessarily because of the caffeine since research has found that decaf coffee can also trigger symptoms. So it’s questionable as to whether caffeine in dark chocolate can really brew up digestive symptoms, but it’s likely not impossible.
Baking: semi-sweet chocolate vs bittersweet chocolate vs unsweetened chocolate
These 3 kinds of chocolate are technically all dark chocolate with varying amounts of sugar, with the most sugar found in semi-sweet and the least in unsweetened chocolate.
In my experience with baking chocolate, 50-60% dark chocolate is semi-sweet, with 60-72% being bittersweet. When I need unsweetened chocolate in a recipe, I tend to use 85% Lindt.
In terms of FODMAPs, because semi-sweet and bittersweet baking chocolate often has milk ingredients, treat these items like Monash’s generic dark chocolate category since that chocolate contains lactose (and thus milk).
White chocolate & IBS
White chocolate is low FODMAP at 25 grams. The main FODMAP at issue is lactose, since plain white chocolate is composed of cocoa butter, milk ingredients, sugar and vanilla extract. There are no cocoa solids in white chocolate, but it’s still classified as chocolate on account of the cocoa butter.
I’ve never heard of white chocolate being a problem for people with IBS, but it’s high in fat, sugar and lactose so if you’re sensitive to any of these elements then large quantities of white chocolate might trigger some symptoms.
Cocoa powder
Cocoa powder is low FODMAP at 8 grams (or 2 heaped teaspoons). The Monash app notes that servings around 200 grams are high in both fructans and GOS so should be limited. But there’s a chasm of difference between 8 grams and 200 grams – so can you eat more than 8 grams cocoa? Unfortunately, we don’t know but I imagine there’s some wiggle room past 8 grams.
When would you want to eat more than 8 grams cocoa? Possibly in a super chocolatey baked good like cocoa brownies or flourless chocolate cake where the cocoa content is likely high. My suggestion around these types of baked goods is: 1) go low FODMAP / gluten-free if you’re on the low FODMAP diet, 2) eat small portions and monitory your symptoms.
Filled chocolates (truffles, chocolates, etc)
FODMAP content in chocolate candy (ie. truffles, chocolate confections, chocolate candy bars, etc) is more uncertain because of the added ingredients used to make them. If you spot high FODMAP ingredients like high FODMAP nuts, honey, or high-fructose corn syrup on the ingredients list, maybe look for an alternative while you’re on the low FODMAP diet.
Does chocolate have any health benefits?
As a plant food, cocoa contains a number of beneficial nutrients, such as essential minerals, fibre and polyphenols.
In 30g of dark chocolate (70%), you’ll find very respectable amounts of iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium (12). You’ll also find about 2 grams of fibre – not too shabby.
Chocolate is also a source of polyphenols. Polyphenols are natural plant compounds that can act as antioxidants and promote the health of our gut bugs. Dark chocolate contains more polyphenols than milk chocolate due to its higher content of cocoa solids. These polyphenols are why dark chocolate is touted as a health food.
But there’s a catch…
Polyphenols in chocolate
Unprocessed cocoa beans contain bonkers amounts of polyphenols, but the journey from cocoa bean to dark chocolate bar is a long and heavily processed one (1). Each of the many steps in the processing of chocolate diminishes the polyphenols until the final chocolate product, while still possessing some polyphenols, is a mere shadow of its original self (13). That being said, consumption of any polyphenols is still a positive thing!
Cursory review of the literature on chocolate and health suggests that despite the processing, chocolate has health benefits. Research has found that cocoa and chocolate may reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes and even neurodegenerative disease (14).
But a few recent high quality meta-analyses and systematic reviews have shed light on an unfortunate problem with the research on chocolate and health: it’s weak (1,13,14,15). The studies are of poor to moderate quality, meaning we can’t say for certain whether chocolate truly benefits health.
Chocolate also has high amounts of sugar and saturated fat, leading me to wonder if these nutrients could counterbalance any positive effect of the polyphenols…
Regardless, chocolate is freaking tasty, and eating it certainly lifts my spirits! Given the mood enhancing effect of chocolate, as well as its numerous minerals and polyphenols, I think eating modest portions of high quality dark chocolate probably has a neutral effect on health.
Bottom Line
There’s always room for a piece of chocolate. Whether you like milk, dark or white, there is a low FODMAP serving size so you can indulge your sweet tooth while on the low FODMAP diet.
- Milk chocolate is low FODMAP at 20 grams.
- Generic dark chocolate is low FODMAP at 30 grams.
- Very dark chocolate (85%) is low FODMAP at 20 grams
- White chocolate is low FODMAP at 25 grams.
xoAndrea, RD, MHSc
