Exton, Pennsylvania-based Red Chocolate, a reduced sugar chocolate company, will offer a donation option on its website with every purchase. Donations will benefit the American Heart Association and will support its research regarding various heart diseases and conditions.
In honor of National Heart Awareness Month, Red will match all donations collected within its online store throughout the month.
Customers will have the choice to donate $1, $3, $5 during checkout. The option will be powered by DailyKarma, a company specializing in cause marketing, with 100 percent of donations going directly to AHA.
“The entire team here at RED is excited to launch this campaign,” said Glenn Gardone, president and CEO. “Our focus as a company has always been to show people that there are better options out there for snacking, and this drive applies to overall health as well.”
In an article from Harvard Health, a study published in 2014 in JAMA Internal Medicine [showed scientists finding] an association between a high-sugar diet and a greater risk of dying from heart disease. Over the course of the 15-year study, people who got 17 percent to 21 percent of their calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared with those who consumed 8 percent of their calories as added sugar.
A diet high in processed sugar contributes to an increased risk of diabetes, which greatly increases the risk of heart failure.
“RED is not a health food. Candy is still candy, and we won’t claim otherwise,” Gardone said. “Our core mission is to create a better option for chocolate lovers. We set out to reduce sugar and decrease calories not to say it’s healthy, but to make a transition to smarter eating easier. By reducing refined sugars, we are helping chocoholics take a step in their journey for better living and heart health.”
The last two years have been stressful, with one in two U.S. adults reporting that COVID-19 has negatively impacted their mental healthy, according to the American Heart Association.
“Chocolate is one of America’s favorite indulgent-escapes for not only moments of happiness and celebration, but also to alleviate stress, sadness, anger, etc. It’s important to everyone at RED Chocolate that our products don’t conflict with the benefits that decompression or ‘me time’ provides,” Gardone said. “Since we’ve eliminated the addition of refined sugars, creating a heart-healthier option, everyone can have their chocolate and eat it, too.”
For more information, visit red-chocolate.com.
