Medically reviewed by Aviv Joshua, MS, RDN The cocoa content differentiates dark chocolate from milk and white chocolate. Dark chocolate has a lot more cocoa solids than milk chocolate, and there ...

Since milk chocolate by definition has less cocoa solids than dark chocolate (due to the addition of 12% or more milk solids), it also contains less caffeine.

Cocoa solids are the dry, nonfat parts of the cocoa bean. It results from putting chocolate liquor through a press and separating cocoa solids from the fatty part of the bean.

Cocoa solids are brown, flavorful and used to make dark and milk chocolate. Cocoa butter is pure fat and can be used to make white chocolate.

White chocolate Made from only cocoa butter, milk solids (or powder), sugar, and perhaps lecithin and vanilla, white chocolate is simply chocolate that’s devoid of cocoa solids.

The metals are also found in cocoa solids, which with cocoa butter, make up cacao. Dark chocolate and cocoa powder are made of cocoa solids, the organization said.

Consumer Reports researchers found that some hot chocolate mixes contain high amounts of metals and, if frequently consumed, can cause health problems.

What is Cocoa? Cocoa is a powder made from chocolate liquor, a non-alcoholic paste that contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter produced during the process of grinding cacao beans.

Unfortunately, cocoa solids are also where the heavy metals, especially cadmium, lurk. That makes it tricky to balance dark chocolate’s risks and benefits.