In its New World beginning, chocolate was favored as a food that relieved the effects of fatigue.
The real chocolate consist of largely fermented, roasted chocolate beans that are packed with nutrients. The word chocolate comes from Aztecs of Mexico who called it ‘bitter water’.
The emperor Montezuma, for example, could drink up to fifty goblets of xocoatl per day, which may seem enormous, but was probably the amount he needed for support in the day’s tasks (he kept a harem of six hundred concubines).
According to the research, chocolate is one of the best natural sources of arginine, an amino acid. Arginine acts in a similar way to Viagra in that it increase blood flow to the penis and amplifies sexual drive. More study have shown that the mere scent of chocolate cause a slight increase in penile blood flow. Why or how is unknown.
Over the course of history, chocolate has been regarded as not only a food pleasant to the taste, but also as a remedy for different ailments, especially angina and circulatory problems.
The positive associations of chocolate and health lasted until the end of the nineteenth century.
Nearly all chocolate was consumed as a beverage until the mid-19th century. It has been noted that establishment that served drinking chocolate were rare and only the well to do could afford to consume it at home.
It was only with the industrialization of chocolate production and the manufacture of the sugar filled candies containing very little cacao (and fewer polyphenols) that chocolate began to be perceived as a substance harmful to health.
Up until now, researchers have studied mostly the potential impact of chocolate on cardiovascular disease in populations that consume large quantities of cacao.
Cacao’s beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system may be related to its antioxidant activity. Antioxidants are very important of their extraordinary health enhancing properties. Chocolate has one of the highest levels of antioxidants per gram of any food measured to date.
Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants – early 8 times the number found in strawberries.
The ingestion of moderate quantities of cacao causes the blood’s antioxidant capacity to rise, thus diminishing the oxidant of proteins responsible for the formation of atheromatous plaques (plaques that protrude into blood vessels and black blood flow).
However, that this effect disappears when chocolate is eaten together with the milk, because of a dramatic change in polyphenols absorption.
One of the polyphenols compound are tannins which contribute to the color and flavor of the chocolate. This tannins have been found to have and anti-bacterial and anti-enzymatic activity. This decreases plaque growth and inhibits acid formation.
Another effect of chocolate that certainly contributes to its beneficial for the cardiovascular system is the reduction of harmful blood platelet activity which reduces the risk of clot formation.
The similarity of the phytochemical content in cacao and that of other foods suspected of playing a role in cancer prevention allows us to imagine that cacao may also exhibit anti-cancer properties.
Chocolate contains 35-41 percent oleic acid. Oleic acid is considered a healthy fat because it actually helps lower cholesterol levels.
The Health Effects of Chocolate
