| High / Low Carb-Fat-Protein Diets | Blood Type Diet | MLM Products | Sterols & Sterolins |
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| Chocolate & Cocoa | Sugar & Glycemic Index | Vitamin C Supplementation | Vegetarianism |
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Chocolate & Cocoa: 'Healthy' Benefits or Negative Health Effects?
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Is Chocolate a food of the gods because of its divine taste and Health Benefits,
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or is it because heavenly bodies don't have to worry about its Health Hazards?
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Stories on the health benefits of consuming cocoa products have increasingly made the news following
the discovery that they are an excellent source of catechins, which are polyphenols of the flavanol group,
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and which are believed to protect against heart disease, cancer, and various other medical conditions.
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Chocolate manufacturers and retailers have been taking advantage of these findings by not only trying
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to make chocolate lovers feel less guilty about their addiction, but also by trying to target the more
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health-conscious consumer with regular doses of "research studies" praising the supposed benefits of
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consuming chocolate, among them that:
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• eating chocolate releases endorphins in the brain, which act as pain-relievers,
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• eating chocolate boosts one's appetite, but does not cause weight gain,
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• the sugar in chocolate may reduce stress and have a calming and pain relieving effect,
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• eating chocolate does not give someone acne or other skin eruptions,
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• eating chocolate does not trigger migraine headaches,
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• eating moderate amounts of chocolate makes one live almost a year longer,
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• eating chocolate reduces the risk of heart disease and cancer.
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How reliable are all these "Studies?"
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Taking a closer look, one discovers that once the studies funded by chocolate interest groups were
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discarded, the ones left offered conflicting results. As expected however, some isolated compounds
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in cocoa did show certain health benefits. Because it is a common practice in nutritional research to do
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studies on food fractions, outcomes may sometimes appear negative because they are done without
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any co-factors or complexed nutrients, however in the case of cocoa, some of the research was positive
because the "co-factors" (all the other detrimental ingredients in chocolate) were not part of the study.
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If people were to consume pure cocoa, then they might indeed be able to enjoy a few health benefits,
including a positive effect on blood pressure and glucose metabolism, however the majority of people
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eat processed chocolate with all the other less desirable ingredients (i.e. added sugar, corn syrup,
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milk fats / dairy cream, hydrogenated oils, etc...), and where the actual cocoa content may be less than
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20%, so all the bets regarding chocolate being a healthy food are off.
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With claims made of sugar having a "pain-relieving" effect (babies fed a sucrose solution felt less pain
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from needles), it is doubtful that we will see chocolate bars replacing conventional analgesics any time
soon, nor are these same "researchers" making these sugar-promoting claims likely going to reach for
a chocolate bar next time they suffer from a throbbing toothache, a pounding headache, or a kidney
stone attack.
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While cocoa and sugar do not "cause" acne, the sugar present in chocolate will most certainly make
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acne, or any other acne-like skin eruptions worse, as anyone suffering from these skin conditions can
attest to.
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Placebo-controlled trials showed that some of the chemicals in chocolate (caffeine, phenylethylamine,
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or theobromine) can indeed trigger migraine headaches by altering cerebral blood flow and releasing
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norepinephrine in some of those prone to suffer from migraines. Of all the foods isolated that triggered
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the most attacks, chocolate was an offender about 30% of the time.
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Claiming that "eating moderate amounts of chocolate increases one's life span" is a most interesting
example of how some "researchers" will manipulate statistics to prove anything!
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"Chocolate-Is-Good-For-You" campaigns through the media or the prominent placement of leaflets
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at confectionery counters keep feeding the consumer "made-to-order" research results whose outcome
is predetermined to satisfy an agenda (i.e. selling chocolate), with little relevance to science or facts.
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Considering that nicotine has also shown some health benefits, particularly with ulcerative colitis and
Parkinson's disease --- would this be a reason to urge people to start smoking tobacco?
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From a nutritional perspective - chocolate is no less a junk food than ice cream or donuts, and it is
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equally unhealthy and fattening when larger amounts are consumed on a regular basis. While no one is
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trying to discourage people from enjoying an occasional chocolate treat - urging consumers to increase
their chocolate intake for "Health Reasons" leaves nutritional research less than credible, particularly
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when diabetes and obesity have become an out-of-control global problem.
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Premium grade dark chocolate contains only cocoa butter, a fat that naturally occurs in cocoa beans
and is made up of stearic acid (34%), oleic acid (34%), palmitic acid (25%), and the rest of other fatty
acids, whereby the combined effect of all the fats found in cocoa butter is fairly neutral in regard to an
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individual's lipid profile. However, when milk chocolate or lower grade chocolate is consumed, part of
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the total fat content of chocolate comes from milk fat or various other types of fat, which do adversely
affect cholesterol levels.
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Despite all the good news on cocoa not raising LDL cholesterol, even dark chocolate is a very calorie-
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dense food, so while the fat content may not invite cardiovascular disease from an atherogenic (arterial
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clogging) perspective, its regular consumption will add a lot of extra calories to someone's daily total,
and as a result still affect those who have to watch their caloric intake. Nevertheless, being listed as the
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No.1 ingredient in many chocolate products, sugar is unquestionably a worse culprit compared to the
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fat content when addressing the effects of chocolate on someone's overall health.
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Sugar is a well-known cause, contributing, or aggravating factor with a host of medical conditions that
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includes heart disease, insulin and blood sugar disorders, mood disorders, immune system disorders,
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impaired phagocytosis, leukemia, inflammatory conditions, dental caries, yeast infections, depletion of
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essential nutrients, osteoporosis, obesity, and others. (see also Acu-Cell "Sugar & Glycemic Index").
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Cocoa products also contain stimulants such as phenylethylamine, which have an anti-depressant and
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amphetamine-like effect; they contain pharmacological substances such as n-acetylethanolamines that
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are related to cannabis (marijuana), and they have compounds that stimulate the brain to release an
opiate-like substance called anandamide. When drugs are used to block the brain's opiate receptors,
the desire for chocolate (and other sweet and fatty foods) disappears - confirming the addictive nature
of these types of foods.
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But despite cocoa being such an opiate and endorphin-releasing pharmacological powerhouse, who
would have guessed that when chocoholics were given cocoa in capsules - without the added fat and
sugar, and without the feel of chocolate melting in their mouths - it had no satisfying effect at all!
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However, while eating the actual chocolate bar satisfied the cravings for it, studies showed that there
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was no improvement with mood, relaxation, feeling content, depression, or guilt, after eating chocolate.
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What about the cancer and heart-protective attributes of catechins,
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which chocolate products have become increasingly associated with?
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Again - in isolation, polyphenols work well in a test-tube environment, but cocoa also happens to be
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very high in Copper, which unfortunately inhibits the action of some flavonoids, particularly hesperidin,
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which is an essential flavanone (see also Acu-Cell Nutrition "Bioflavonoids"). This in turn can lead to a
greater incidence of vascular degeneration such as varicose veins, hemorrhoids, aneurysms, bruising,
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heart disease, and stroke.
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While low copper can be implicated with weak and fragile blood vessels as well, high copper levels
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are much more common in many parts of the world, with nearly 90% of patients tested exhibiting a
chemical profile that - in addition to their own unique chemistry - contained an underlying pattern that
reflects the impact of copper overload on various opposing nutrients, which include sulfur, chromium,
molybdenum, nickel, Vitamin C, hesperidin, and others.
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The additional consumption of high copper sources such as chocolate and cocoa products, coffee,
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cola drinks (also shellfish, liver, soybeans, and many nuts and seeds...), not only aggravates many high
copper-related medical conditions, but it is responsible for contributing to, or creating new ones.
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At the same time, copper is an important co-factor for angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation) with
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cancer, so with the exception of colon cancer, for which copper and calcium are somewhat protective
for, most other types of benign or malignant tumors, hemangiomas, fibroids, etc., are associated with
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high copper levels. Dark, bitter chocolate has the highest catechin content, but at the same time has
also the highest copper level. Light or milk chocolate has the lowest copper level, but also the lowest
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catechin content.
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