Cocoa beans are susceptible to fungal contamination and often contain substantial amounts of ergosterol, the precursor to vitamin D₂. We hypothesized that sun-drying the fermented cocoa beans might lead to the conversion of ergosterol to vitamin D₂. 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 D₂. Particularly high vitamin D₂ content was found in cocoa powder and butter. Among the chocolates, dark chocolate had the highest vitamin D₂ content (ranging from 1.90 to 5.48 µg/100 g), white chocolate had the lowest vitamin D₂ content (ranging from 0.19 to 1.91 µg/100 g), and chocolate nut spreads had a comparatively low vitamin D₂ 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.

可可豆易受真菌污染，通常含有大量麦角固醇，即维生素 D ₂的前体。我们假设将发酵的可可豆晒干可能会导致麦角甾醇转化为维生素 D ₂。我们通过液相色谱-串联质谱法对可可和可可基食品中的维生素 D 进行了定量。在这里，我们表明来自不同种植区的可可豆含有维生素 D ₂。在可可粉和黄油中发现了特别高的维生素 D _{2含量。在巧克力中，黑巧克力的维生素D 2}含量最高（1.90至5.48微克/100克），白巧克力的维生素D ₂含量最低_{含量（范围为 0.19 至 1.91 µg/100 g），而巧克力坚果酱的维生素 D 2}含量相对较低，平均为 0.15 µg/100 g。因此，可可和巧克力显然是维生素 D 的饮食来源，因此有必要更新食物成分数据库。