New Research on Dark Chocolate

A new study conducted by the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center uncovered an important link to its vascular health benefits.

The study used Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate, which contains 60 percent cacao, and reported that dark chocolate has a positive impact on blood pressure and blood vessel function.

The Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center study is the largest of its kind to research the short-term benefits of solid dark chocolate and cocoa containing beverages on blood pressure and endothelial function (blood vessel function).

The results, recently published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that consuming Hershey's Extra Dark Chocolate (75g) as well as Hershey's Natural Cocoa (22g) lowered blood pressure and improved endothelial function in 45 participants two hours after consumption.

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[Video] FDA Could Change Chocolate's Basic Ingredients

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U.S. sales of premium chocolate

Hershey's Bliss, individually wrapped bite-size pieces of Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Meltaway, is launching it first campaign this week. Hershey's Bliss is positioned as an everyday indulgence. That strategy is a shift from previous premium chocolates carrying the Hershey's name (Hershey's Cacao Reserve, Hershey's Origins), which tried appealing to consumers by touting antioxidants and the cacao beans' country of origin.

Rival Mars, though, isn't far behind as it prepares for the summer debut of M&M's Premiums.
In June. M&M's Premiums will come in five flavors: Triple Chocolate, Chocolate Almond, Mint, Mocha and Raspberry Almond. The 6-ounce bags will be priced at more than $3.


U.S. sales of premium chocolate -- defined as sweets that sell for $8 or more a pound -- jumped 11 percent to $2.7 billion in 2006, per Packaged Facts, Rockville, Md. Dark chocolate sales grew 15 percent to $4 billion. (2007 numbers were not available).

Mars already is a formidable premium and dark chocolate player with the Dove and Ethyl M box chocolate lineup. Hershey, meanwhile, began making Starbucks Chocolate last month.

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New Study Looks At Chocolate & Heart Health

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Latest Chocolate Trends

Almost one in two living in Britain, 46 percent, Switzerland, 45 percent, and Belgium, 43 percent, eat chocolate several times a week, according to a survey conducted by Swiss chocolate manufacturer Barry Callebaut.

For many, simple milk chocolate is no longer good enough.One in five Swiss are eating such premium chocolate at least a few times a month.

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Chocolate and Bone Density

Women who eat chocolate daily may end up with weaker bones and could be more prone to fracture, a new study in Australia suggests.The Cocoa used in chocolate has been known to provide a range of health benefits including benefits to the heart.

Researchers say that after monitoring the amount of chocolate eaten over several weeks by 1,001 women aged between 70 and 85, women who ate chocolate every day were found to have lower bone density than those who ate it less than once a week.
The low bone density was found in the hips, neck, tibia and heel bones of the women surveyed.

The researchers were from University of Western Australia. They believe that their findings may be because chocolate contains oxalate, a poisonous acid, which can reduce the calcium absorption and sugar, linked to calcium excretion.

Calcium is vital for maintaining healthy bones. The findings of the latest study appeared in the latest issue of American Journal of Clinical Nutrition less than a month after British medical journal The Lancet warned against considering chocolate as a healthy food.

The Lancet article said consumers were generally unaware that chocolate manufacturers often remove a healthy element called the flavanols, an antioxidant, because of their bitter taste.

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The Latest on Chocolate and Bones

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Chocolate linked to weaker bones

According to new research , the regular consumption of chocolate may weaken bone density and strength. This could increase the risk of health problems such as osteoporosis and fracture.the study. The study was published this month in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study found that women who eat chocolate daily have an overall bone density 3.1 per cent lower than those who consume it less than once a week.


1,001 women aged 70 - 85 were randomly assigned either oral calcium supplements or a matched placebo for a period of several weeks. During this period they were also asked to keep a dairy of how often they consumed chocolate or cocoa-based drinks. At the end of the study, researchers measured the whole-body and regional bone density and strengh of each participant.

Women who ate chocolate less than once a week had significantly stronger bones than those who consumed the treat on a daily basis, with calcium supplementation having little effect on the results.

The possible cause could be oxalate, an inhibitor of calcium absorption, and sugar, linked to calcium excretion according to the researchers.
source;//www.foodproductiondaily.com/

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The British Lancet about Flavanols

According to an editorial published in renowned British medical journal Lancet, chocolate may not offer you health benefits. As we all know, studies in the past have suggested that dark chocolate is good for the heart. These studies state that flavanols which are in chocolate are considered to protect the heart and lower blood pressure.


But the editorial stats that fat, sugar and calories in chocolate trigger illness instead. The journal believes that many manufacturers remove the flavanols while producing chocolate because of its bitter taste.

The online edition of the BBC News quotes Lancet;
'When chocolate manufacturers make confectionery, the natural cocoa solids can be darkened and the flavanols, which are bitter, removed, so even a dark-looking chocolate can have no flavanol,'
'Consumers are also kept in the dark about the flavanol content of chocolate because manufacturers rarely label their products with this information,' the editorial noted.

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More reasons to eat Chocolate

Chocolate is a vegetable: Chocolate is derived from cocoa beans.
Beans = vegetable.

Sugar is derived from either sugar CANE or sugar BEETS. Both are plants, which places them in the vegetable category. Thus, chocolate is a vegetable.

To go one step further, chocolate candy bars also contain milk, which is dairy. So candy bars are a health food.

Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

The problem: how to get 2 pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car. The solution: eat it in the parking lot.


If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet? Don't they actually counteract each other?

Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Now, isn't that handy?

If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. You can't let that happen, can you?

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Hypertension Research

If you have high blood pressure, a daily bar-sized serving of flavonol-rich dark chocolate might lower your blood pressure and improve insulin resistance, researchers report in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Flavonoids are natural antioxidants found in many foods from plants.The researchers found a 12 mm Hg decrease in systolic blood pressure and a 9 mm Hg decrease in diastolic blood pressure in the dark chocolate group after 15 days. Blood pressure did not decrease in the white chocolate group.

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Craving Chocolate

According to a recent study, 68% of women's food cravings are for chocolate. Women crave it most during late afternoon. A study published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association said that "chocolate cravings are real."

A recent study on normal-weight women, published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders, says that not having chocolate may leat to greater temptation -- and greater chocolate consumption.

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Dark Chocolate and Health

Small portions of dark chocolate can improve blood vessel flow, especially in older adults, according to studies. Studies also say that chocolate may improve blood sugar and insulin sensitivity to help reduce the risk of diabetes.

One study, published in the journal Hypertension, reported that the antioxidants found in dark chocolate could help reduce high blood pressure. It seems as if the study participants who ate chocolate also reduced their LDL "bad" cholesterol levels, and improved insulin sensitivity. Subjects in the study were limited to a small portion of dark chocolate per day.

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Chocolate as an Aphrodisiac

Chocolate contains three substances, caffeine, theobromine and phenyethylamine which together give people the impression that it is an aphrodisiac.

Caffeine acts as a stimulant, which may increase arousal or interest.
Theobromine stimulates the heart muscle and the nervous system further increasing arousal and interest.

Phenyethylamine may work as a mood elevator and an anti-depressant.

The combination of these three substances gives you the impression that chocolate is an aphrodisiac. Whether or not it actually works is up to you.

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CAFFEINE and Theobromine in Chocolate

CAFFEINE CONTENT
White chocolate 3ounce bar or 1 cup chips
Caffeine 0.0 mg
Theobromine 0.0 mg
Baking chocolate, unsweetened 1 ounce
Caffeine 57.120 mg
Theobromine 346.360 mg
Semisweet chocolate 1 ounce (chocolate chips)
Caffeine 17.577 mg
Theobromine 137.781mg
Milk Chocolate 1.55 ounce bar
Caffeine 11.440 mg
Theobromine 74.360 mg
Cocoa mix 1 envelope/3 heaping tsp
Caffeine 5.040 mg
Theobromine 169.680 mg
Cocoa powder, unsweetened 1 tbsp
Caffeine 12.420 mg
Theobromine 111.078 mg

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Are you addicted?

Scientists have noted that the pleasantness of eating chocolate are associated with increased blood flow in areas of the brain, particularly in the orbital frontal cortex and midbrain, that are also activated by addictive drugs such as cocaine.

Many food scientists have reported chocolate to be the single most craved food. Some researchers have even argued that chocolate is addictive. Although others say that it is not so. Substances present in chocolate which have been highlighted as potentially pharmacologically significant include serotonin, tryptophan, phenylethylamine, tyramine and cannabinoids.

So are you addicted to chocolate?

Do you need to eat chocolate at a certain time of the day, every day?
If you forget to, do you get tired or irritable?
What happens to you if you do not eat your chocolate?
Do you get a headache?

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Chocolate on blood pressure

Small amounts of dark chocolate "efficiently reduced blood pressure," report the researchers, who included Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, of Germany's University Hospital of Cologne.

Taubert's study included 44 adults aged 56-73 in Duisburg, Germany.

The 24 women and 20 men had mild hypertension or borderline blood pressure that fell just short of hypertension. These people were otherwise healthy and were not taking blood pressure drugs or nutritional supplements.

Taubert's team of researchers split participants into two similar groups.

One group got 30-calorie daily doses of dark chocolate for 18 weeks. The researchers checked the amount of cocoa in the German chocolate bars.

For comparison, the other group got a similar daily dose of "white chocolate," which doesn't contain chocolate liquor or cocoa.

Both groups got the same instructions: Take your chocolate dose two hours after dinner, don't change your normal diet and fitness habits, and keep a diet and exercise diary.

By the end of the study, those eating dark chocolate lowered their systolic blood pressure by nearly three points and their diastolic blood pressure by almost two points, on average.

Systolic blood pressure is the first, or top, number in a blood pressure reading. Diastolic blood pressure is the second, or bottom, number in a blood pressure reading.

Blood pressure didn't budge for better or worse in the white chocolate group.

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