Apparently food chemists have found how to replace a significant amount of natural cacao fat with various liquids like fruit juice or alcohol, if a special emulsion is created using agar.
The story reported by BBC News states that this combination, which displaces up to half the natural cacao fat, retains the same mouthfeel as normal chocolate.
I must say I am highly skeptical. And realistically, why bother? If you are eating cheap high sugar, high added fat chocolate, then you should simply change to high quality dark chocolate. The natural cacao fat has been shown to be neutral in terms of it’s effect on blood cholesterol, and quality dark chocolate has less sugar. Not to mention containing a number of natural chemicals with positive effects on the cardiovascular system.
And of course the other great thing about quality dark chocolate is that you are less likely to sit and eat a whole block.
So do yourself a favour and forget messing with the fat content and just embrace the good stuff!