Comingup on Sunday 7th July, World Chocolate Day, though there are otherchocolate days declared around the world.
Theobromacacao, native to Equatorial and Central America, was cultivated for thousandsof years before its “discovery” by European explorers and spread to the rest ofthe world. A member of the mallow family (Malvaceae) the genus name, Theobroma,derives from Greek for “Drink of the Gods” and the species name, cacao, from nativelanguages.
Historically, the American peoples fermented and roasted cacao seeds to produce a bitter drink. In Europe, the addition of sweeteners led to the wild popularity of chocolate as both drink and confectionary.
Chocolate is a high-fat, high-sugar food, not good for a healthy diet. Nevertheless, it also contains health-promoting phytochemicals, particularly catechin-relatedflavanols, powerful antioxidants. They help control blood pressure by increasinglevels of nitric oxide (NO), a vasodilator, both by activating NO synthase and alsoby quenching the free-radicals that destroy NO. Cocoa also contains thealkaloid theobromine, tolerated in humans but toxic in cats, dogs and otheranimals.
A video bynutritionist @FionaLawson discusses the benefits of dietary chocolate for skincare, citing evidence that the flavanols provide UV-protection. Cocoa-derived products can also be applied topically (Scapagnini et al, 2014), which avoids ingesting too much sugar and fat!
The natural fat, cocoabutter, is particularly rich in unhealthy triglycerides of saturated fattyacids, that in chocolate making is mostly replaced by cheaper oils. The reasonis that cocoa butter has high intrinsic value, e.g., as a highly prizedcosmetic ingredient due to its melting properties and skin-feel.
Unsurprisingly, cocoa-derivedcosmetics, are marketed primarily towards women rather than men. It is lessobvious why the gender difference extends also to chocolate confectionary.
To humans of allgenders, Happy Chocolate Day.
Further reading/viewing
🍫Wikipedia (2024) Chocolate, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chocolate&oldid=1230021572
🍫Latif R. (2013). Chocolate/cocoa and human health: a review. The Netherlandsjournal of medicine, 71(2), 63–68. https://www.njmonline.nl/getpdf.php?id=1269
🍫Fiona Lawson (2024) You Won’t BELIEVE How Chocolate Can Improve Your Skin! |Evidence-Based. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z0n63rNpJ4
🍫Scapagnini G et al (2014). Cocoa bioactive compounds: significance and potential for the maintenance of skin health. Nutrients, 6(8),3202–3213. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu6083202
🍫Rozin, P., Levine, E., & Stoess, C. (1991). Chocolate craving and liking. Appetite,17(3), 199–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/0195-6663(91)90022-k
