Adequate nutrient intake is essential for maintaining or recovering the nutritional status. Oral nutritional supplements (ONS) facilitate achieving the nutritional requirements, and nutritional societies endorse their consumption as a part of nutritional therapy. However, poor adherence to ONS is commonly reported due to the palatability and monotony of industrialized supplements. Given its widespread acceptance and palatability, chocolate has been explored as a potential alternative for nutritional supplementation. This study aims to examine the evidence on adherence to ONS and using chocolate as oral supplementation.
For this narrative review, articles were sourced from the PubMed database. The search strategy involved a combination of specific keywords and their synonyms: “oral nutritional supplements” and “palatability” or “acceptance” or “adherence” or “compliance” or “patient compliance"; “chocolate” or “chocolate bar” and “health benefits” or “enrichment chocolate”.
Malnourished patients have low and suboptimal acceptability of ONS, often due to loss of appetite, undesirable taste or gastrointestinal discomfort. Chocolate, known for its appealing taste and widespread acceptance, emerges as a promising alternative. Beyond its palatability, chocolate naturally provides energy and bioactive compounds that may benefit clinical populations; it can be added with several nutrients and bioactive compounds.
This review centers on chocolate, highlighting its potential as a phenolic compound-rich and energy-dense dietary vehicle for patients. Thus, it will further encourage research to explore the use of chocolate in nutrition therapy in clinical settings, which can eventually result in the development of new ONS.
