CAN “DEATH
BY CHOCOLATE” LEAD TO
“LIFE BY CHOCOLATE”?
By
Mark Jeantheau, GrinningPlanet.com
Chocolate
and Health - Is It Good for You or Bad For You?
Going into cocoa-overload
with a serving of the famous dessert "Death By Chocolate"
is probably not the way to find out if chocolate is good
for you. In this article, we will explore the health benefits
of chocolate and provide some serving suggestions to ensure
that the phrase "chocolate and health" is something
other than a dietary oxymoron for you.
First, let's start off with some
of the health-giving attributes of chocolate:
It's rich in certain essential
minerals, and it's packed with bioflavonoids, especially
flavonols.
Chocolate is thought to improve blood flow and elasticity
in blood vessels; lower blood pressure; improve overall
heart health; and reduce the risk of death from cardiovascular
disease.
It can decrease LDL (bad) cholesterol as well as the body's
inflammatory immune responses.
Chocolate is thought to improve insulin resistance and sensitivity.
It can increase alertness, lessen pain and promote a general
feeling of well-being.
Chocolate may reduce the risk of cancer.
Before you go running with glee through the candy aisle,
let's go into those characteristics in a little more detail.
We'll also explore the potential health downsides of chocolate.
(Sorry!)
CHOCOLATE
AND HEALTH
Chocolate's Vitamins and Essential
MineralsChocolate is a good source of magnesium, copper,
and iron; with lesser amounts of calcium, zinc, Vitamin
A, niacin, and phosphorus.
Here's why those first three
are important:
Magnesium is critical to a large
number of body functions, including the formation and maintenance
of strong bones, muscle and nerve function, and regular
bowel function.
Iron is an important part of hemoglobin and thus is essential
to oxygen transport in the body. Iron also assists short-term
storage of oxygen in muscle tissue, including the muscle
tissues in the heart.
Copper is an important antioxidant and is critical to the
body's detoxification mechanism. It's also important to
the formation of red blood cells.
HEALTH
AND CHOCOLATE
Chocolate and Stress Reduction;
Chocolate's beneficial levels of magnesium—56 mg in
a 50g (~2oz) bar of dark chocolate—may help to explain
some of chocolate's sedative effect on stressed-out people.
Stress causes the body to deplete its supplies of magnesium,
ultimately leading to an out-of-balance biochemistry. It
may be that the magnesium in chocolate helps restore the
body's magnesium balance.
Chocolate also has a more direct
stress-reducing effect. It contains a compound called anandamide—also
known as the "bliss chemical"—that binds
to certain receptors in the brain to promote relaxation.
This happens in a manner similar to the effect of some components
of marijuana—though the effect is much more subtle
(and much more legal!). Further, chocolate contains enzyme
inhibitors that decrease the body's ability to metabolize
anandamide, thus "prolonging the high."
YOU'RE FEELING VERY ENDORPHINNY . . .
Chocolate—and other enjoyable
foods—are known to trigger feel-good endorphins in
our brains. That effect appears to be at least partly related
to our enjoyment of the food (rather than just a reaction
to the components of the food), so it makes sense that when
eating chocolate, we should sit back and savor the experience.
That is to say, don't mindlessly spoon through that pint
of Double-Fudge Chocolate Grand Slam. Sit back and enjoy
it like a proper chocoholic!
Another mood-altering compound
found in chocolate is phenylethylamine, a chemical supposedly
released by the brain when we are in love. (Love me, love
my chocolate?) Many researchers, however, discount this
as a mood-altering factor, noting that phenylethylamine
levels are higher in cheese and sausage—which are
not associated with stress reduction—and that the
phenylethylamine in chocolate is too rapidly metabolized
by the body to have the purported effect.
The high fat content of chocolate
candy does trigger the brain's production of natural opiates.
Similarly, the sensory pleasures—taste, smell, mouth
feel—associated with chocolate can undoubtedly have
a calming effect on the eater.
CHOCOLATE
AND HEALTH
Chocolate and AntioxidantsAntioxidants
are important soldiers in the war our body constantly wages
against free radicals, which can cause all sorts of cellular
damage. More generally, antioxidants are essential to how
the body detoxifies itself.
Dark chocolate is packed with
antioxidants called bioflavonoids—containing more
of them than any other food tested so far, including blueberries,
red wine and green tea. (See table below.)
Table 1.
Top 10 Antioxidant Foods According to USDA Research
FOOD SCORE
Dark Chocolate 13,120
Prunes 5,770
Raisins 2,830
Blueberries 2,400
Blackberries 2,036
Kale 1,770
Strawberries 1,540
Spinach 1,260
Raspberries 1,220
Brussels Sprouts 980
Milk chocolate actually makes
this list as well, scoring slightly higher than prunes,
but we have chosen to let dark chocolate represent the cocoa
contingent alone. Milk chocolate has some characteristics
that make it inferior to dark chocolate from a health perspective.
More on that later.
Animal studies have found the
antioxidants in these and similar foods to:
reduce loss of long-term memory
and learning ability;
maintain the ability of brain cells to respond to a chemical
stimulus—a function that normally decreases with age;
and protect capillaries against oxidative damage. While
dark chocolate is clearly a superstar when it comes to antioxidants,
experts recommend that you get your antioxidants from a
variety of sources, not just chocolate. Different phytochemicals
are present in different amounts in various foods, and getting
a nice mix of these nutrients from a variety of fresh fruits
and vegetables is the best way to give your body the ammo
it needs to keep disease at bay. (Related GP article: Rainbow
Diet.)
HEALTH
AND CHOCOLATE
Chocolate and Heart Health;
Little did we know, those bumper stickers that say "I
? chocolate" had it right all along—chocolate
appears to be good for your heart. Research is ongoing,
but two primary reasons have emerged as to why chocolate
is good for coronary health:
cocoa appears to help the body
modulate nitric oxide, a compound critical for healthy blood
flow and blood pressure; and the flavonols in cocoa reduce
the chance of blood clots and prevent fatty substances in
the bloodstream from clogging arteries.
Unfortunately, chocolate does
contain saturated fat, and saturated fat is normally a bad
thing when it comes to cardiovascular health. Some research
indicates, though, that the fat in chocolate is not a problem
because it contains stearic acid, which is "cholesterol-neutral."
That is to say, the body still processes the fat as fat,
just not as bad fat. It might increase your waistline—and
being overweight is definitely not a heart-healthy thing—but
chocolate fat won't contribute to your level of bad cholesterol.
Before we start celebrating chocolate's
"neutral fat" characteristics, we must mention
that one large study came to the unfortunate conclusion
that too much chocolate fat is indeed a problem for heart
health. In the Nurses' Health Study, which looked at more
than 80,000 women over 14 years, the saturated fat in chocolate
was shown to increase the risk of coronary heart disease
by as much or even more than other saturated fats.
So, if you are predisposed to
cardiovascular problems, it is probably wise not to overdo
the chocolate bars. Fear not, though, we have a suggestion
later in the article about how you can get the benefits
of flavonol-rich cocoa with the overload of chocolate fat.
CHOCOLATE
AND HEALTH
The Dark Side of Chocolate;
For the average person, there are two potential downsides
to chocolate: fat and sugar. We already discussed the fat
issue in the previous section, so let's move on to sugar.
AW,
SUGAR, SUGAR
Every year, US manufacturers
of chocolate products use 2.4 billion pounds of sugar and
1.4 billion pounds of corn-syrup sweeteners.
Delectable though it is, sugar
brings a long list of woes to the body. For those interested
in a more extensive list, we recommend checking out 76 Ways
Sugar Can Ruin Your Health at Mercola.com.
Over-consumption of sugar is one of the main reasons Western
countries—and particularly the US—have high
incidences of adult-onset diabetes, obesity (juvenile and
adult), and hyperactivity in children. Sugar can also:
suppress your immune system and
impair your defenses against infectious disease;
cause or aggravate autoimmune diseases such as arthritis,
asthma, multiple sclerosis;
feed the growth of cancer cells.
Because sugar weakens the immune
system, Mercola.com advises that people only eat chocolate
if they're healthy, and even then only dark chocolate and
in moderation.
The sugar in chocolate is no
worse than the sugar in other foods. In fact, it may be
a little better than average—the glycemic index of
chocolate is a relatively low 45. Nonetheless, sugar is
an overall negative, and this presents us with a dilemma
when it comes to getting the health benefits of chocolate
without suffering the negative effects of sugar. Two points:
Many of the studies that showed
a positive benefit of eating chocolate gave study participants
only a small amount of chocolate—no more than a few
ounces a day. You don't need to eat gobs of the stuff to
get a positive benefit, and given the sugar issue (and less-clear
saturated-fat problem), you should resist the thought that
"if a little chocolate is good, more chocolate is better."
A USDA study found that among all chocolate products, standard
cocoa powders has the greatest concentrations of antioxidants
and flavonols. Baking chocolate was a close second.
Item 2 actually makes sense.
Cocoa powder is what's known in the business as the "chocolate
solids," with the chocolate fat—cocoa butter—separated
out. Thus, cocoa powder is the purest concentration of the
part of chocolate that has all the good stuff, health-wise.
Unsweetened baking chocolate has the next highest concentration
of chocolate solids, though we admit that we envision that
few people would be willing to gnaw on a chunk of unsweetened
baker's chocolate. Cocoa powder, however, is a more flexible
way to get your cocoa solids, as we will discuss in the
next section.
One final caution about eating
chocolate: Even if you are ingesting chocolate solids in
a form untainted by cocoa butter or sugar, the long-term
effects of high cocoa consumption or higher-than-normal
intake of flavonols remain to be studied. So, don't overdo
it—stick with the recommendations we offer in the
"How Much?" section below (or consult with a professional
nutritionist).
HEALTH
AND CHOCOLATE
Different Chocolates, Different
Health BenefitsCompared to cocoa powder, milk chocolate—the
most popular chocolate among US consumers—contains
about a tenth of the beneficial flavonols. Milk chocolate's
performance also suffers from the fact that it contains
milk, which binds with the antioxidants and reduces their
positive impact.
Dark chocolate—which has
a higher concentration of cocoa solids than milk chocolate—gets
better antioxidant scores than milk chocolate but still
not as good as baking chocolate and cocoa powder. Chocolate
products that use cocoa powder prepared using the "Dutch
process," which uses alkali, should be avoided—the
alkali destroys most of the beneficial flavonols. You can
also forget about white chocolate completely—it has
no chocolate solids.
So, that leaves us with the following
general rules for choosing chocolate for maximum health
benefit:
The darker the better.
The higher the cocoa content the better.
The less fat the better.
The less sugar the better.
Non-alkali processing is a must.
We'll also add to that list "organic" so that
you also avoid any residual pesticides in your chocolate.
(See Chocolate and Pesticides
for more info.)
What product best fits this bill?
As we've implied up to this point, it's straight cocoa powder.
Not very exciting. But before you dismiss the idea of drinking
an unsweetened cocoa beverage, let us briefly tell you of
the Kuna Indians of Panama. These native peoples have very
low levels of age-related hypertension, despite salt intake
levels similar to less-heart-healthy Westerners. The Kuna's
secret is thought to be that they drink unprocessed cocoa.
Compounds in the cocoa help regulate the nitric oxide in
their blood, which is good for blood vessel relaxation.
FLAUNTING FLAVONOLS
Some of the health benefits of
chocolate have been observed in studies using off-the-shelf
chocolate products, while other studies have used specially
derived "lab chocolate"—picked and processed
to ensure high levels of viable flavonol compounds.
The concentration of the flavonols
in any chocolate product depends on:
-- the flavonol content of the cocoa plant it is derived
from;
-- the procedures used to transform the cocoa beans into
chocolate products.
The flavonols can be destroyed
at many points on the path from the cocoa plantation to
the manufacturing plant to the supermarket shelf and your
mouth.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could
just look at the label on the chocolate product and see
a number for "viable flavonol content" per serving?
Well, good news everyone! Manufacturers have recognized
chocolate's health benefits as an important sales angle
and are working to develop products with maximized and standardized
amounts of antioxidants. The labels on some candy bars now
give the percentage of cocoa solids. This is a good start,
but the ultimate goal should be for the label to list not
only the percentage of cocoa solids but, more importantly,
the level of viable flavonols. And the word "organic"!
CHOCOLATE AND HEALTH
Getting Your Daily Dose of Chocolate;
OK, back to how might you drink hot cocoa made with unsweetened,
organic, non-alkali cocoa powder—without gagging.
If you drink black coffee or unsweetened hot tea, a mug
of hot, unsweetened cocoa might not be too much of a challenge
for you, and you might even find you enjoy it. (The GP founder
has been doing so for years.) But if you're used to making
everything you drink taste like a milkshake, well, tsk-tsk-tsk.
Regardless, for those of you
who would like to try enjoying a cup of hot, unsweetened
cocoa every morning, here are some tips.
Choice of Cocoa Powder
Buy only high-quality, organic,
non-alkali, unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably raw. The
best stuff has beans only, no pods.
Remember, you're not looking
for powdered hot chocolate mixes -- they contain added sugar
(and usually a few other things too).
How To Prepare It
To prepare the cocoa, heat the
water on your stove. Wait until the water just begins to
boil in the pan, then spoon in the cocoa—one rounded
teaspoon per 8 oz. water. Stir until the cocoa powder completely
dissolves, let it all boil gently for 20 seconds, then remove
from heat. Let it sit for a minute, stir a couple of times,
then pour the chocolaty goodness into your mug and enjoy!
The amount of cocoa used does
make a difference in the taste—too little and the
beverage tastes washed out; too much and it's overpowering.
So, adjust the amount of cocoa powder you use to suit your
taste buds.
Jamocha / Choffee
Here's an option for the hot-cocoa-in-a-cup
method: once you've made your hot cocoa, add hot black coffee
to it to make a yummy coffee-cocoa combination. We find
that about half chocolate/half coffee works well, but again,
adjust to taste. And remember that you've just cut down
on the amount of cocoa you're getting per cup. The good
news is that coffee has its own arsenal of helpful antioxidants.
Baking Beyond The Pleasuredome
Of course, you can always use
cocoa powder in brownies or chocolate cakes, but remember
the sugar issue. We suspect you're not going to eat unsweetened
brownies, but that's always an option. (And no, we don't
recommend using non-caloric artificial sweeteners!)
It's also possible to use cocoa
powder in recipes for bread, other non-dessert baked goods
and recipes—even squash! We have no first-hand knowledge
in this area, though we know recipes are out there. However,
we think it's unlikely that one could get therapeutic amounts
of cocoa this way. But if you've tried it or have other
ideas for how to use unsweetened cocoa powder to good effect,
please contact@grinningplanet.com
I Want Candy
If you just can't make the cocoa
powder approach work for you, then we have to admit that
an a few ounces organic dark chocolate every day isn't likely
to do most people harm. Look for products that have the
highest content of chocolate solids, with low sugar and
fat content.
How Much?
Studies so far have used varying
amounts and varying types of chocolate, so there's no easy
answer to how much chocolate you should consume. We offer
the following suggestions as unscientific, non-medical recommendations
based on the materials we reviewed:
If using pure cocoa powder: two
rounded teaspoons per day.
If eating dark chocolate bars: two ounces per day.
HEALTH
AND CHOCOLATE
Wrap-UpThere are a number of
chocolate factors we didn't have time to get into in this
article, including:
chocolate and caffeine
chocolate "addictions"
chocolate allergy
chocolate and headaches/migraines
chocolate and acne
chocolate and periods
chocolate and slavery
Are these relationships myths or facts? We'll address these
topics and more in Part 3 of this series, to be published
in a future issue of Grinning Planet.
Know someone who might find this
article about Chocolate and Health interesting? Please forward
it to them.
©
Mark Jeantheau/Grinning Planet. More great articles at www.grinningplanet.com
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