Guest guest Posted June 9, 2006 Report Share Posted June 9, 2006 C is for Chocolate By Ralph Moss, Ph.D. The Moss Report http://cancerdecisions.com The Aztec King Tezozomoc of Azoapotzalco regarded chocolate as a divine substance: he offered distinguished guests cocoa in a tortoise shell that was highly polished and ornamented with gold arabesques. Early on, chocolate developed a reputation as an aphrodisiac. Montezuma is said to have drunk chocolate before entering his harem. The famous botanist Carl Linnaeus got to name the plant and with great perspicacity called it Theobroma cacao, food for the gods. Most of us like chocolate, but some of us (especially women) crave it so much that they are virtually addicted. There may be a biological basis for this. First let's get our terms straight. The plant is called cacao, a word derived from the Aztec word "cacahuatl." This is an evergreen tropical American tree that bears leathery ten-ribbed fruits on the trunk and older branches. Cocoa powder is made from cacao seeds, which have been fermented, roasted, shelled, ground and freed of most of its fat. Cocoa is also the name of the beverage made by mixing this powder with hot water or milk. In North America and Europe, we always mix this powder with a sweetener, usually sugar. But the word cacahuatl meant "bitter water" (from xococ, bitter + atl, water). One can gradually cultivate a taste for less sweet forms of chocolate. Even today, Mexicans prize chocolate as an unsweetened food and use it in their famous chicken dish, mole poblano. Most people assume that anything that tastes so darn good just has to be bad for you. But according to Karon Harder, a clinical dietitian at Northwest Texas Health Care System, "chocolate can be healthy when it's part of a varied diet. It's not that chocolate is bad for you," she says. "But what's added to chocolate isn't that good." A report in January of 2002 from France showed that certain substances in cocoa powder inhibit 70 percent of cancer cells during a critical phase of their growth cycle. Japanese researchers have shown that tiny amounts of a cacao bean extract (called polycaphenol) are more toxic to human tumor cells than to normal cells. In some regards polycaphenol was even more effective than vitamin C. Pretreatment of mice with polycaphenol also protected them from lethal E. coli infections. In 2001, the eminent food researcher John Weisburger, PhD, concluded: "The cocoa bean, and tasty products derived from the cocoa bean such as chocolate, and the beverage cocoa, popular with many people world- wide, is rich in specific antioxidants." The regular intake of such products, he continued, would increase the level of antioxidants, prevent the oxidation of "bad" LDL cholesterol, and probably prevent heart disease. "It would seem reasonable to suggest inhibition of the several phases of the complex processes leading to cancer," Weisburger said. The darker the chocolate, the better it is for you, according to Prof. Joe Vinson of the University of Scranton. Weight for weight, he said, milk chocolate has twice as many antioxidants as blueberries and dark chocolate has five times as many. And cocoa powder contains twice as much antioxidants as dark chocolate and is almost devoid of fat. Chocolate may also be good for your heart and digestion. In 2001 a number of researchers at the University of California, Davis found that chocolate inhibits the clumping of platelets. "Cocoa consumption had an aspirin-like effect," they wrote. Cocoa butter is mainly stearic triglyceride, which is less well absorbed than other fats, and is excreted. Thus, cocoa butter has a minimal effect on serum cholesterol. I am not advocating an unrelenting diet of chocolate bars, which contain nine grams of fat per ounce and also sugar, cream, saturated fats and other less desirable things. There is a way to avoid the bad stuff by making your own cocoa drink. Start with organic cocoa powder and mix it with hot water to make a paste. Then add more hot water or low-fat milk and sweeten with a little honey. The resulting drink is quite delicious. It also might fight cancer and heart disease -- not a bad combination for a substance that not long ago was relegated to the "junk food" category. Chocolate is very complex. It contains phenylethylamine, an amphetamine-like substance that selectively elevates some brain chemicals that are associated with pleasure. Other chemicals in chocolate have the ability to bind to cannabinoid receptors in the brain, mimicking the effects of marijuana. There may be something to the old folk tale that chocolate is an aphrodisiac. Chocolate may also have some negative effects, particularly in migraine sufferers and among women with severe PMS. It may increase kidney stone formation in those who are prone to that painful disease. Recently, two Arizona researchers wrote a paper asking whether chocolate was a food or a drug. So who knows? Perhaps sometime soon the FDA will reclassify this substance and you will have to apply for an Investigative New Drug (IND) number just to get a chocolate bar. Why is there always money for war, but none for education? Check Out My Groups: Everything Natural http://health./ Everything Magick EverythingMagick/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.