Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice, and is just the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to nutrition.

Hu Chocolate, also referred to as Human Chocolate or Get Back To Human Chocolate, is an increasingly popular chocolate bar brand in the US. The brand claims that their process involves “sourcing only simple, clean and responsible ingredients” and that they “put…the human body first.”

But is Hu Chocolate actually healthier than the average chocolate bar? Does Hu contain any unhealthy ingredients? Why was the brand sued in a class-action lawsuit? And what was our experience purchasing and trying it?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Hu Chocolate to give our take on whether or not it’s actually healthier than the average chocolate bar.

We’ll also explain the lawsuit against Hu Chocolate, share our honest experience purchasing and trying different flavors, and compare Hu Chocolate to other "healthy" chocolate brands like Feastables to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• All whole food ingredients
• Much healthier than traditional chocolate bars
• We currently recommend Hu Chocolate

Ingredient Analysis – Is Hu Healthy?

The ingredients in the “Salty” version of Hu Dark Chocolate are shown below:

The simplicity of the ingredient label is definitely a plus, and we know from clinical trials that dark chocolate is associated with improved health. 

A 2022 medical review describes dark chocolate as a “functional food” because of its anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.

Coconut sugar is a healthier and more nutritious alternative to refined cane sugar. A 2023 meta-study on coconut sugar describes the ingredient as a “healthier” sweetener option that has more favorable effects on blood sugar than table sugar.

Based on its simple and clean formulation, we would recommend this product and consider it healthy.

Even the milk chocolate bars sold by Hu are healthy.

The brand uses organic, grass-fed milk as another natural sweetener, and as we documented in our article on is Nutella healthy, grass-fed animal products are clinically shown to be more nutritious than conventionally-raised animal products.

We recommend dark chocolate over milk chocolate due to the lower sugar content.

To illustrate how much healthier Hu is than the average commercial chocolate brand, consider the ingredients in Great Value Milk Chocolate (Walmart’s brand) shown below:

Sugar is the first ingredient, and this bar contains 48 grams (g) of added sugar per bar. We know from medical research that added sugar in excess can increase the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Natural vanilla flavor fails to describe what specific flavoring agents are used, and a medical review published in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal suggests that some natural flavoring compounds may be toxic.

We consider Hu Chocolate to be much healthier than the average chocolate bar brand like the Great Value Milk Chocolate bar analyzed above.

Is Hu Chocolate Contaminated?

Hu Chocolate is one of several chocolate brands that was hit with a class-action lawsuit over allegations of high lead levels in their products.

According to Top Class Actions, a plaintiff sued Hu Chocolate in 2023 because the products were branded as healthier and good for you, but the plaintiff alleges that they contain lead and the manufacturer was aware of this fact.

The level of lead was not published in the above-linked article. 

A Consumer Reports investigation found that Hu Chocolate (Simple Dark Chocolate) flavor contained higher lead levels than the average brand tested (and 15x higher than the lowest-level brand tested, which was Mast Organic Dark Chocolate).

While the report linked above presents the data in a concerning way, this does not prove that the dose is necessarily harmful.

The lead level found in Hu was around 1 microgram per serving, which is still well under the established FDA safety threshold.

Less lead is always better, but there's so much variance batch-to-batch that this isn't enough information for us to change our recommendation of this brand (which we have no affiliation with).

We Tested Hu Chocolate

As the author of this article, I wanted to purchase and try Hu Chocolate myself to share my thoughts on its taste and effects:

I purchased the Dark Chocolate and the Almond Butter + Puffed Quinoa bars, and had one of them with an unsweetened black tea for a late evening pick-me-up to give me a bit of energy.

The almond butter and quinoa bar tastes much better in my opinion, and has a more interesting texture.

The almond butter on the inside is creamy while the puffed quinoa is crunchy, and that bar was much more enjoyable than the dark chocolate bar which has the same consistency throughout and is a basic chocolate bar.

I did notice a slight improvement in energy thanks to the caffeine and theobromine in dark chocolate, and Hu Chocolate could make for a good evening energy boost when it's too late to consume coffee.

Both bars tasted better to me than the average chocolate bar like Hershey's, but I likely wouldn't purchase either again because I personally try to avoid added sugar as much as possible in my diet.

Overall, I'd rate this brand 7/10.

Hu Chocolate vs. Popular "Healthy" Brands

Here's how Hu Chocolate compares to other brands that market themselves as healthy chocolate, in our opinion:

Feastables

Contains refined, added sugar, which is clinically shown to be worse for human health than natural alternatives like those used by Hu.

Hu Chocolate is the healthier option.

Winner: Hu Chocolate

Dubai Chocolate

Dubai Chocolate is TikTok-viral, but has two major issues: lack of full ingredient disclosure, and unclear manufacturer (with many "knock-off" brands).

Hu Chocolate is a much more reputable brand with less consumer safety issues.

Winner: Hu Chocolate

Lily's Chocolate

This brand is often considered to be a healthy option, because it's sugar-free, but some products sold by this brand are sweetened with a sugar substitute which is clinically shown to increase the risk of stroke.

Winner: Hu Chocolate

Hu Chocolate Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Zero unhealthy additive ingredients
• Healthiest milk chocolate product we’ve reviewed
• May provide health benefits
• Relatively low in sugar
• We tried it and liked the taste
• We also liked the product effects (energy)
• Healthier than competitors

Cons:

• Had higher-than-average lead levels in a Consumer Reports test
• Expensive
• May contain some heavy metals (but nearly all chocolate does)

Conclusion

Hu Chocolate is an impressive brand, and is one that we’d recommend from a health perspective.

The brand has extremely clean formulations, using natural sweeteners like coconut sugar and grass-fed milk, and there were no questionable or unhealthy additives in the two products we reviewed (Hu Dark Chocolate and Hu Milk Chocolate).

The milk chocolate product is the healthiest milk chocolate we’ve reviewed to date on Illuminate Health, as it’s entirely free of refined cane sugar.

We purchased and tried Hu Chocolate ourselves, and liked both the taste and product effects.

Hu has been sued over allegations that their chocolate is contaminated by lead, but we don’t believe consumers need to worry about this because all food grown outdoors is contaminated to some degree with heavy metals.

What matters is the actual level of those heavy metals, and based on Consumer Reports testing, the levels in Hu Chocolate are still well within established adult safety thresholds.

We consider Hu Chocolate to be a healthier option than Dubai Chocolate, Feastables and Lily's Chocolate.