Cocoa and chocolate are sources of vitamin D.

Cocoa beans are susceptible to fungal contamination and often contain substantial amounts of ergosterol, the precursor to vitamin D. We hypothesized that sun-drying the fermented cocoa beans might lead to the conversion of ergosterol to vitamin D. We quantified vitamin D in cocoa and cocoa-based foods by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Here, we show that cocoa beans from different growing regions contain vitamin D. Particularly high vitamin D content was found in cocoa powder and butter. Among the chocolates, dark chocolate had the highest vitamin D content (ranging from 1.90 to 5.48 µg/100 g), white chocolate had the lowest vitamin D content (ranging from 0.19 to 1.91 µg/100 g), and chocolate nut spreads had a comparatively low vitamin D content, with an average of 0.15 µg/100 g. Thus, cocoa and chocolate are clearly a dietary source of vitamin D, therefore, it is necessary to update food composition databases.