Web Extra Article

Chocaholics rejoice -Chocolate is now considered a healthy food

by Anne Stropel

If there is anyone out there who has not yet heard the good news, here it is again: chocolate is now considered healthy!

For eons women everywhere have been riddled with incredible guilt feelings for craving, much less eating, chocolate. What was it that made us feel that we could not, indeed should not, indulge in a little “food of the gods”? Did we simply feel that something as delicious as chocolate must definitely be “bad” for us? Yet, we desperately craved this delicious confection, as though our bodies knew what research has finally shown – chocolate is good food.

Chocolate dates back to the Mayans and Aztecs who grew the cacao trees and harvested the cacao beans and ground them into a paste. From this paste they made a drink. The Aztecs actually traded the cacao beans, using them as a form of money. Both groups made a bitter drink from the beans (sugar was not available to them), which was drunk mostly by royalty and rulers.

In the 1500s the Spanish brought the cacao beans to Spain. They began to add other ingredients such as cinnamon and other spices as well as sugar, making the drink much more palatable. From Spain the custom of drinking chocolate spread to other parts of Europe.

Because cacao and sugar were expensive imports, drinking chocolate was reserved for the wealthy for hundreds of years. The Europeans even designed porcelain and silver cups especially for drinking chocolate, as this custom had become a status symbol.

Today cocoa is still grown and harvested the way it was in the days of the Aztecs and the Mayans. The cocoa tree grows in regions within 20 degrees of latitude of either side of the equator, with Ivory Coast, in Africa, and Brazil growing nearly one-half of the world’s cocoa. Venezuela is another major provider. Technology has made it possible to bring this delicious product to many people worldwide, in various forms.

One ounce of chocolate contains about 175 calories, 10 grams of fat and 21 grams of carbohydrate. It contains many good things, such as Vitamins A, E, B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and folate along with calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. The fat in chocolate is in the category of “good” fat, however that “good” fat is a fairly high proportion of chocolate, so use in moderation if you are watching your weight (and who isn”t?).

However, as women everywhere know, even a small piece of chocolate is better than no chocolate. It is important that we not buy into the health food trend of the day. While chocolate contains good things, eating more chocolate will not make us healthier. It is not a quick fix for what ails you. Instead we should rely on a low-fat, high-fibre diet and daily exercise to keep our bodies healthy.

Did you know. . .

• It takes approximately 400 cocoa beans to make 1 pound of chocolate.
• Chocolate contains a protein that inhibits bacterial growth on teeth.
• Chocolate contains a very high concentration of a chemical called phenylethylamine, which is the same chemical the human brain produces when a person is in love.
• Eighty per cent of the world's population likes chocolate.
• Annual world consumption of cocoa beans averages approximately 600,000 tons.
• Studies have shown that dark chocolate contains almost five times the flavonol content of apples (flavonoids are powerful antioxidants).
• Canadian brothers James and Gilbert Ganong introduced a pink cinnamon_flavoured candy with bittersweet chocolate in the centre – chicken bones – in 1885.
• Ganong was the first to introduce a heart-shaped box to hold chocolates – now a widely recognized symbol of Valentine's day – in 1932.