I love chocolate

Chocolate a guilty pleasure, ally for good health - The China Post

Chocolate a guilty pleasure, ally for good health
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Eighteenth-century French gastronomist Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, author of one of the most celebrated treatises on food, “Physiology of Taste,” used to say that if a man had over-indulged, had worked excessively or his spirit was tired, he just had to “drink a cup of good perfumed chocolate and wondrous things would happen to him.”

Perhaps Brillat-Savarin was exaggerating, but there is no doubt about the immense attractiveness of chocolate, the world's favorite sweet. We owe it to the Toltecs of South America, and the Europeans who were able to improve on it by adding milk and sugar, producing such a delicacy that most chocolate lovers say it is addictive.

“No one has been able to prove that chocolate is addictive, but it possesses high concentrations of several bio-active substances with stimulant effects and it has a fusion point that is very close to body temperature, so it melts in the mouth with a unique and very pleasing silky texture”, Monica Katz, head of the Nutrition department at Favaloro University in Argentina, told dpa.

Chocolate is composed of phenylethylamine, a psychoactive drug similar to amphetamines that is commonly known as the “love drug” (its production in the brain can be unleashed by a mere exchange of glances, brushing by or squeezing hands); caffeine, a stimulant; theobromine, that has a relaxing, diuretic and bronchodilator effect; serotonin, that improves the mood, and dopamine, that generates a sensation of pleasure.

“Thanks to all these substances, it is a strong natural stimulant with many rewards. Basically, we eat chocolates or sweets because they are comfort foods that reduce stress and anxiety”, Katz added.

No surprise then that many people turn to a small dose of happiness. A 20-gram bar can palliate sad moments or, in the case of women, help with the unpleasant effects of pre-menstrual syndrome.

Even before the Mayan and Aztec conquest, the Toltec people used cocoa to treat pain and inflammation. Later the Mayas used it for both ritual purposes and as a food, considering it a powerful energizer.

Chocolate also contains phosphorous, which helps in bone formation; magnesium, which has a role in the immune system; potassium, which helps maintain the balance of water in the organism; not to mention iron, calcium, vitamin E, B complex vitamins (thiamine and riboflavin) and tannins.

As if that were not enough, a number of scientific studies have indicated that chocolate can be a good ally in reducing hypertension.