We Present the Chocolate

Chocolate is good for your health

Mmm...chocolate. The product of the cacao tree has been winning fans since Aztec leader Montezuma introduced the beverage (chocolate candy as we know it didn't appear until the 1800's) to the Spanish conqueror Cortez, who subsequently took it home to Spain.  (While the original drink was rather bitter, the Spanish made a few creative innovations - using sugar instead of chilies, and adding cinnamon and vanilla).

What is it that makes chocolate so irresistible? A large part of chocolate's allure, of course, lies in the taste - a deliciously rich concoction that satisfies the most intense craving.  But several chemical reactions are also at work. For one thing, chocolate stimulates the secretion of endorphins, producing a pleasureable sensation similar to the "runner's high" a jogger feels after running several miles. 

Chocolate also contains a neurotransmitter, serotonin, that acts as an anti-depressant. Other substances, such as theobromine and phenylethylamine, have a stimulating effect. However, the truth is that scientists are still not positive how the over three-hundred chemicals contained in chocolate make us feel so good.

Researchers have some news for chocolate lovers: it may be good for you. Scientists reported preliminary evidence recently that cocoa and other chocolates may keep high blood pressure down, your blood flowing and your heart healthy.

One study found that a substance in cocoa helps the body process nitric oxide (NO), a compound critical for healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Another study showed that flavonols in cocoa prevent fat-like substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and clogging the arteries, and make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause clots. Flavonoids are plant compounds with potent antioxidant properties; so far, scientists have found more than 4,000 kinds. Cocoa beans contain large quantities of flavonoids, and so do red wine, tea, cranberries, peanuts, strawberries, apples and many other fruits and vegetables. The flavonoids in chocolate are called flavonols.

Nitric Oxide

In the first study, researchers gave Boston volunteers cocoa with either a high or low amount of flavonols. Those who drank cocoa with more flavonols showed more nitric oxide activity.

"Nitric oxide plays such an important role in the maintenance of healthy blood pressure and, in turn, cardiovascular health," said lead researcher Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg, physician and professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

The residents of an island called Kuna in Panama prompted Hollenberg's study. These indigenous people rarely develop high blood pressure, although they drink about 5 cups of cocoa each day and include it in many recipes. But if they leave the island, the risk of high blood pressure increases, and studies found it wasn't related to salt intake or obesity.

Promotes Blood Flow

The other study compared how blood platelets responded to a flavonol-rich cocoa drink with 25 grams of semi-sweet chocolate pieces and a blood-thinning, 81-milligram aspirin dose. The research found similar reactions to the two from a group of 20- to 40-year-olds: both the drink and the aspirin prevented platelets from sticking together or clotting, which can impede blood flow.

In other words, flavonol-rich cocoa and chocolate act similarly to low-dose aspirin in promoting healthy blood flow. Reducing the blood's ability to clot also reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks.

Lead study author Dr. Carl Keen cautioned that his team isn't suggesting that people eat a couple of candy bars instead of taking their daily dose of aspirin.

"We're not advocating that people consume flavonol-rich foods in place of aspirin," stressed Keen, who is also the University of California-Davis nutrition department chairman. For people who cannot take aspirin, however, he said eating flavonol-rich foods "may be a useful approach."

He noted one important difference between aspirin and flavonol-rich foods: "The effects you see in aspirin are longer-lasting than the effects you see in flavonols," he said.

Chocolate's Benefits?

A PWC who was a true chocoholic could do a little research and argue that there are several bioactive compounds in chocolate that promote alertness, lessen pain and promote well-being.

For example, the stimulants theobromine, caffeine, tyramine and phenylethylamine (PEA) provide a brain-fogged PWC with a much-needed lift. Tryptophan, an essential amino acid, lessens anxiety by producing the neurotransmitter serotonin; endorphins, the body's natural opiates, reduce sensitivity to pain.

Anandamide acts like a cannabinoid to promote relaxation. And last but certainly not least, chocolate is a natural analgesic, and high-fat, chocolate foods trigger the brain's production of natural opiates.

So let's sum up. Chocolate gives you an energy lift, less anxiety, a reduction in pain-who wouldn't recommend something that did all that? Well, a nutritionist or biochemist could argue that chocolate doesn't contain much of these ingredients.

For example, while caffeine does encourage alertness, there is less caffeine in chocolate than there is in a cup of coffee. (There are about 30 milligrams of caffeine in your average chocolate bar, while a cup of coffee contains 100 -150 mgs.)

Cannabinoids are substances that mimic marijuana. The chemical in marijuana that makes people "high" - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - binds to certain receptors in the brain. The anandamide in chocolate can bind to the same receptors, producing a "high."

And what about chocolate's ability to trigger the brain's natural opiates? At a CFS conference held September 1999 in Brussels, Belgium, Professor Jonathan Brostoff of London discussed "Allergy in CFS." He said about 25 percent of the population suffers from intolerances or allergies and the percentage is the same for PWCs.

Brostoff said food and inhalant sensitivities could lead to health problems, including migraine, irritable bowel syndrome, arthralgia and chronic fatigue. He suggested an elimination diet to find out whether someone is intolerant.

So, about those chocolate cravings: At "The Challenge of Chronic Illness" CFS conference in Sydney, Australia, in 1999, Abhijit Chaudhuri, a neurologist on the Glasgow, Scotland-based team researching CFS, said about 40 percent of his patients routinely craved chocolate. He suggested SSRIs or and low-dose tricyclics to help prevent those cravings.

Some people find that Bupropion (Wellbutrin) reduces chocolate cravings. That may be because Bupropion's chemical structure is similar to PEA.

Antioxidant Power

Here's an argument you could win with the nutritionist: Studies show that cocoa powder, dark chocolate and milk chocolate have higher Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) values than many common foods, such as prunes and blueberries. (ORAC values measure how powerful an antioxidant a substance is). An antioxidant is a substance that inhibits oxidation or reactions promoted by oxygen and peroxides, and that include many held to protect the living body from the deleterious effects of free radicals. Examples include beta-carotene, vitamin C, and alpha-tocopherol.

Dark chocolate has more than 13,000 ORAC units and milk chocolate has about 6,700, according to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association in McLean, Va. Unsweetened powdered cocoa starts out with almost twice as much antioxidants as dark chocolate, but when it's diluted with water or milk and sugar to make hot chocolate, the flavonoid total per serving plummets to about half that in milk chocolate.

Vinson and his colleagues found that the flavonoids in chocolate are more powerful than vitamins such as ascorbic acid in protecting circulating lipids from oxidation. Atherosclerosis studies suggest that oxidation of lipoproteins is part of the process that creates the plaque that clogs artery walls.

"Chocolate just stands out," Vinson said. "It's much higher than anything else."