Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Eat Chocolate – It is Tasty and Good for your Health



How Chocolate is Made?

You may be surprised, but in a way chocolate really does grow on trees! Cocoa beans come from the fruit of the cacao tree which grows in tropical rainforests in South America, Africa, and Malaysia. The official scientific name of the cocoa tree is Theobroma Cacao. "Theobroma" is Latin for "food of the gods". Cacao is pronounced "ka-COW". The words "cacao" and the more commonly used term "cocoa" both refer to the cacao bean, the seed of the Theobroma Cacao fruit.

Strictly speaking, cocoa or cacao is a nut, the seed of a fruit, but is most commonly called cocoa beans, cocoa seeds, cocoa nuts, chocolate seeds, or chocolate beans. Commercial cocoa growers and processors refer to the dried cocoa beans as cocoa nibs. The term cacao often refers to the beans before they are fermented and dried.

Chocolate is manufactured from cocoa mass, the base product produced by processing the cocoa/cacao beans or nibs by fermenting and then roasting them to produce a liquid called chocolate liquor, which is very "thick" or viscous. The chocolate liquor can be molded and hardened into the bitter chocolate known as unsweetened baking chocolate. Those who like its bitter taste of this sugar-free dark chocolate enjoy the healthiest type of the chocolate.

Which Chocolate is the Best?

Which chocolate is the tastiest, depends totally from your personal perception, but remember that not all chocolates are created equal in terms of the health benefits. Processing destroys many of the natural flavonoids present in cocoa beans, and chocolate products that have been alkalized have been almost entirely depleted of their natural goodness. It's really only dark chocolate, high in cocoa content, that seems to be of benefit. Not white chocolate. Not milk chocolate. Only rich, dark chocolate!

Chocolate Health Benefits

Multiple studies suggest that eating small amounts of dark chocolate may protect your health in the following ways:
  • Improved endothelial function. Several small-scale studies have shown that dark chocolate may help keep arteries elastic and blood free-flowing by improving the function of the endothelial cells that line blood vessels. One study of male smokers revealed that only 2 hours after eating a small piece of dark chocolate, participants experienced a significant improvement in endothelial function that lasted up to 8 hours.
  • Reduced blood pressure. In a recent study involving men and women with high blood pressure, those who ate 3 1/2 ounces of dark chocolate every day for 15 days experienced a drop in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Results were similar in another study of people who were between the ages of 55 and 64 and had hypertension. The study participants who supplemented their diets with a daily dose of dark chocolate for 2 weeks experienced a significant reduction in blood pressure. But after only 2 days without chocolate, their blood pressure readings returned to previous levels.
  • Reduced risk of heart attack. Although more research is needed to confirm this one, a new study shows that regular chocolate eaters who had heart disease were less likely to die following a heart attack compared with the people who didn't treat themselves to the dark and dreamy stuff. Consuming 6 grams of chocolate a day can lower 39% risk of heart attack and stroke, as per 8 year study by German researchers. As per other study, consuming 1 chocolate bar a week lower 22% risk of stroke and also lessen the risk of death after a stroke.
  • Chocolate makes you smarter. Ample research suggests that the flavonols in dark chocolate increase cerebral blood flow, which in turn may trigger the creation of new blood vessels and brain cells. And a new study shows that older adults performed better on cognitive tests after eating small portions of the sweet stuff.
  • Chocolate decreases your anxiety and stress levels. A clinical trial demonstrated that dark chocolate reduced the production of stress hormones in as little as two weeks!
  • Powerful antidepressant. Chocolate is a potent source of serotonin, dopamine, and phenylethylamine. These are three well-studied neurotransmitters which help alleviate depression and are associated with feelings of well-being. Cocoa contains monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO Inhibitors) which help improve our mood because they allow serotonin and dopamine to remain in the bloodstream longer without being broken down.  Cocoa also contains anandamide which stimulates blissful feelings. Cocoa also contains B vitamins, which are associated with brain health.
  • Sexual health drug. Dark chocolate contains epicatechins, flavonoids that trigger the release of dilating chemicals in the inner, or endothelial, layer of the arteries, helping to treat erectile dysfunction a natural way. A University of California at San Francisco study shows that those who ate a 1.6-ounce dark-chocolate bar each day increased their blood-vessel dilation by more than 10 percent. While the study wasn't done specifically on erectile tissues, anything that benefits your body's endothelial system will likely benefit your erections, since the penis is made up largely of endothelial surfaces. "Keeping those surfaces healthy is crucial to good arterial flow," says Kevin McVary, M.D., a professor of urology at Northwestern University.
  • Chocolate has a cavity-fighting compound. Okay, so you don't necessarily want to trade in your toothbrush for a chocolate bar. But some interesting new research shows a compound in chocolate -- theobromine -- may be just as good as fluoride at hardening tooth enamel. So the compound could find its way into toothpastes and mouthwashes one day. Until then, keep in mind that most commercially prepared chocolate has lots of sugar in it.
  • Live Longer. In a 15-year study involving men ages 65 and older, scientists studied the eating and exercising habits of 470 men, tracking their chocolate intake as well. Their results? “The men in the group that consumed the least cocoa were twice as likely to die from a heart attack as those in the group that consumed the most cocoa.” Additionally, “Men in the study who consumed the most cocoa were less likely to die of any cause.”
  • Live Healthier. The famous "Dutch study", which was done on regular processed chocolate, followed over 200 Dutch men over the course of twenty years and found that those who ate the most milk and dark chocolate had lower rates of all major diseases compared to those who ate little to no chocolate. The health benefits of chocolate were really emphasized in this study by the fact that there was no upper limit to how much chocolate could be consumed by these men. What they literally discovered was that the more chocolate you eat, the more your potential for human longevity increases!
Wait a Moment! My mom said it is bad for my health!

Mom always right, but all the bad things commonly attributed to non-raw chocolate bars, such as cavities, weight gain and diabetes, are actually caused by the dairy, sugar and others fillers added to the dark chocolate. Health benefits of chocolate when it is in the form of raw cacao beans, butter, nibs and/or the powder include weight loss (because of its high chromium and coumarin content), prevention of cavities (theobromine actually kills streptococci mutans one of the strains of bacteria that cause tooth decay) and regulation of blood sugar which is beneficial for diabetes (chromium can naturally regulate blood sugar). Also raw cacao benefits the heart and the entire cardiovascular system as a whole, as we already noted.

Cacao is the highest whole food source of magnesium, which also happens to be the most deficient mineral in the diet of modern cultures. Magnesium relaxes muscles, improves peristalsis in the bowels and relaxes the heart and cardiovascular system. The dark chocolate antioxidants have been clinically proven to literally dissolve plaque built up in the arteries which helps in reversing heart disease and causes naturally lower blood pressure. Also, various other vitamins and minerals in raw cacao benefit the cardiovascular system.

The antioxidant content of raw cacao benefits the cardiovascular and general whole body health. In processed dark chocolate, antioxidants such as epichatehins, chatechins, resveratrol and procyanidins can be present, but are in much lower levels than in unheated raw chocolate nibs as an example. Out of all the whole foods that contain antioxidants, raw chocolate is the highest in the world. It dwarfs the popular foods and beverages commonly touted as being antioxidant rich foods such as red wine, green tea and blueberries by a factor of 10x or more!

There are certain herbs and spices, such as the chaga mushroom and cinnamon, which have higher levels of antioxidants in them but generally you won't be consuming enough volume of them to get as much antioxidant value from them as you would from a normal dose of raw cacao.

Benefits from consuming antioxidants come when a range of different types of foods high in them are in your diet, since different coloured foods have different antioxidant compounds which target different parts of the body. The phytochemical analysis of cacao beans reveal that raw chocolate is perhaps the most chemically complex food on Earth. There are compounds yet to be discovered in this most amazing of live superfoods. Phytochemicals usually degrade in the cooking process, so the raw forms of them should be abundant in every diet for longevity.
~Anandamide (the only food that contains this neurotransmitter responsible for the feeling of "bliss")
~ N-linoleoylethanolamine (prevents the re-uptake of anandamide)
~Phenethylamine (PEA, a neurotransmitter known as the "love molecule")
~Seratonin (a neurotransmitter that acts as a "stress defense shield" by making you feel good)
~Dopamine (a neurotransmitter that boosts motivation and pleasure)
~MAO Inhibitors (prevents the re-uptake of serotonin and dopamine)
~Coumarin (has appetite suppressant, blood thinner and anti-tumor properties)
~Theobromine (controversial but actually quite beneficial for humans, see last section)
~Asparaginase (an enzyme that has anti-leukemia properties)
~Ergosterol (a precursor to vitamin D)
~Sitosterol (decreases LDL cholesterol)

The nutrient density of raw cacao benefits every function of the body. All of the compounds found in raw cacao benefits longevity in humans.
~Vitamin A
~Vitamin B (1, 2, 3, 5 and 6)
~Vitamin C
~Vitamin E
~Magnesium
~Copper
~Calcium
~Manganese
~Zinc
~Sulphur
~Iron
~Chromium
~Phosphorus
~Omega 6 Fatty Acids
~Saturated Fats
~Amino Acids
~Carbohydrates
~Soluble Fiber (which is the type people need more of)
~Enzymes (including catalase, lipase and amylase)
~Other Beneficial Phytonutrients (such as the antioxidants already mentioned in this article)

Tips for Chocolate Lovers

To get the most health benefits for your bite:
  • Dark chocolate contain 30% to 80% cocoa, but we recommend picking up dark chocolate with a cocoa content of at least 70%.
  • Enjoy chocolate in small portions a few times a week. An ounce or two is a sensible serving.
  • Don't replace healthy foods with chocolate. Most people's diets have plenty of sweets. Switch those for some chocolate.
  • Check the label. Avoid chocolate made with palm or coconut oils or any oil that has been hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated.
  • Don't drink milk with your chocolate. Studies show that milk may inhibit the body's ability to absorb the chocolate's antioxidants.

Sources and Additional Information:




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