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Chocolate For Health? - April 2003 The March 18 issue of Science News featured research to gladden the heart. Chocolate may turn out to be medicine. Remember Woody Allen's comment in the 1980's, that someday cheeseburgers might be health food? While I wouldn't bet on it, chocolate's naturally occurring flavonoids really are potent antioxidants, compounds that limit the damage to cells caused by free radicals. Similar to molecules found in tea, grape skins and red wine, they may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Molecule for molecule more powerful that vitamin C, chocolate flavonoids help prevent the oxidation of cholesterol toted around by low density lipoproteins (LDLs), which theoretically limits the formation of arterial plaque. The tasty little flavonoid molecules may also act like aspirin, causing blood platelets to be less reactive so that they can't stick so easily to blood vessel walls, another step in the process of plaque formation. As if that wasn't good news enough, diets rich in cocoa powder or dark chocolate, which is twice as potent as milk chocolate, also raise high density lipoproteins (HDLs), or good cholesterol. Louis E. Grivetti of UC Davis, an expert in the history of nutrition, reports that chocolate and cocoa have been used for at least 500 years to treat medical complaints as varied as upset stomach and kidney stones. The candy industry is thrilled, rushing to fund research that would allow them to market chocolate as a nutriceutical, a food with medicinal or health benefits. Since Americans eat more than 12 pounds of chocolate per person annually, we don't need encouragement to consume. But at least we may be able to indulge with less guilt. How much chocolate do you have to eat to get health benefits? Forty grams of milk chocolate, 1.4 ounces, contains the same amount of antioxidants as a glass of red wine. Dark chocolate is twice as powerful. Forty grams of it provides the same amount of antioxidants lurking in a cup of black tea. But there's an obvious hitch. Tea is far less fattening than chocolate, weighing in at zero calories. And it contains no fat. Nonetheless, armed with the latest research, I reached for my favourite Mr. Goodbar at the supermarket check-out counter, content in the knowledge that the peanut skins nestling so seductively in the chocolate also contain antioxidants similar to those in red wine and tea. A double health whammy! About the 270 calories I consumed. While on the treadmill doing penance, I calculated that, at a moderate rate of speed, one and a half miles were sufficient to burn them off. And the reward? More heart health, thighs of steel, sturdier bones, stress relief and a happy mood. Now I am fantasizing about long walks in the beautiful mountains where I live, nibbling on peanut M and M's along the way. Add the sunlight and the beauty of nature to the exercise and the flavonoids, and you have a chocolate lover's fantasy workout for body, mind and soul. (The research in this column was cited in Chocolate Hearts: PS....... The new 2005 diet was invented by a chap in Mitchell's Plain. You only eat food that starts with "T".
Tjicken, Tjops, Tjilli, Tjips and Tjocolate!...... Now here's some ‘Diet’ wisdom I can follow ;o) |