What are antioxidants?
Antioxidants are compounds that help neutralize free radicals and protect your body against their destructive effects.

Flavanol Antioxidants occur naturally in some plant-based foods, such as tea, grapes, blueberries, cranberries and cocoa beans. Cocoa beans are the base ingredient of all chocolate products. Interestingly, on a gram for gram basis, cocoa (ground cocoa beans from which some of the cocoa butter has been removed) is one of the most concentrated natural sources of flavanols.

How do antioxidants in HERSHEY'S EXTRA DARK products compare with other antioxidant products?
Data from the recent study sponsored by The Hershey Company and previous data from USDA and others indicate that dark chocolate is one of the most concentrated sources of flavanol antioxidants among plant foods. The antioxidant capacity of 1 serving of HERSHEY'S EXTRA DARK dark chocolate (37 g) is equal to 3 cups of tea, 2 glasses of red wine or 1 1/3 cups of blueberries.

What are the top products that have antioxidants?
In terms of ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), which is a measure of the amount of antioxidant capacity in a food or substance, a standard serving of dark chocolate (37 g) provides more antioxidant power than the standard servings of many other well-known antioxidant-containing foods, including blueberries, walnuts and raisins. Scientists are still investigating how antioxidant values in foods relate to antioxidant activity in the body and more research needs to be done to better understand how the body absorbs and uses these antioxidants.

What are the dark chocolate products from Hershey?
In addition to new HERSHEY'S EXTRA DARK dark chocolate 3.5 oz bars and pouches, Hershey also has a variety of dark chocolate products:

• Original HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK chocolate bar, a mildly sweet dark chocolate, is available nearly everywhere Hershey's chocolate is sold in forms and sizes to fit your needs.

• HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK solid bars in both single serve and to share sizes

• HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Nuggets with Almonds