Chocolate, while often eaten for pleasure, I bet you didn’t know there are potential beneficial health effects of eating real chocolate. One thing cocoa or dark chocolate does is it benefits the circulatory system. There are many other beneficial effects often suggested including anticancer, brain stimulator, cough preventor and antidiarrhoeal effects. There is also an aphrodisiac effect that is yet unproven.
On the other hand, the unconstrained consumption of large quantities of any energy-rich food such as chocolate will increase the risk of obesity without a corresponding increase in physical activity.
Raw chocolate is high in cocoa butter, a fat which is removed during chocolate refining, then added back in in varying proportions during the manufacturing process. It is the cocoa butter that is good for you. Manufacturers may add other fats, sugars, and milk as well, all of which increase the caloric content of chocolate and make the chocolate less healthy. The purer the chocolate the better.
While we all love to share with our pets please be careful when it comes to chocolate. As chocolate may be toxic to many animals because of their insufficient capacity to metabolize theobromine. Despite its name, the compound contains no bromine. Theobromin is derived from theobroma, the name of the genus of the cacao tree. Cocoa powder can vary in the amount of theobromine. It can anywhere from 2% theobromine to at least 10%.
A study reported by the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in one’s mouth produced an increase in brain activity and heart rate that was more intense than that associated with passionate kissing, and also lasted four times as long after the activity had ended. This is one test you can try at home. You just need real fine dark chocolate of high quality, someone who is a good kisser and someone who is good at taking heart rates. What? Not scientific enough? Well it sounds like a good excuse to kiss and eat chocolate to me.
