To Your Health:

Is Chocolate Good For You?

By Nancy DiMarco, Ph.D.

Perhaps our economy isn’t as bad as one might believe given the fact that Americans spent $21 billion dollars on candy in 2001 – more than the gross national products of Lithuania, Costa Rica and Mozambique combined. Why if Americans gave up chocolate alone, we could pay for a quarter of the cost of the Iraqi war.

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans from the cocoa tree (theobroma cacao). Because it is derived from a plant, it contains antioxidants and polyphenols. There have been a number of reports about the health benefits of chocolate over the last three years. Companies like the M&M Mars Co. (makers of M&Ms, Dove Bars, Snickers, etc.) went so far as to label their chocolate products with a logo “Cocoapro” that means their chocolate had undergone special processing to preserve the flavonoids, naturally occurring compounds that help the plant protect itself.

If you have ever eaten a raw cocoa bean, the astringency of the taste is due to the presence of flavonoids. Processing of cocoa refines the taste of the chocolate by retaining or diminishing the final amount of flavonoid.

M&M Mars believes so much in their processing that they advertise, “Chocolate may provide certain health benefits.”

So what are the facts?

I would love to tell my readers that eating chocolate is good for them, but I’m not thoroughly convinced. Chocolate is still high in fat, high in sugar, has lots of calories and although it may have some of the same compounds found in plants that have potential anti-cancer and anti-heart disease benefits, so do products made from other plants – such as french fires, and one would not exactly extol their health benefits.

Two recent studies, one from the University of California at Davis and the other from the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, have been used as examples of the health benefits of chocolate.

The University of Scranton study extracted polyphenols (a type of antioxidant) from chocolate and found that there are more of these compounds than found in 23 different vegetables. One particular type of polyphenol, catechin, was found to be four times higher in dark chocolate than in black tea.

The problem with studies of this type are that although they sound promising, the fact is that there have been no well controlled, long term studies with chocolate that show increased consumption translates into decreased risk of disease.

The study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, from UC Davis, used 18 volunteers and asked them to consume 25 grams of semi-sweet dark chocolate pieces. The researchers analyzed their blood platelets (the particles in blood that promote blood clotting) before and after eating the chocolate and found that their platelet activity (stickiness of platelets) was significantly reduced up to two hours after consumption. After that time, the effect dissipated.

This study is problematic because it does not address the years required for heart disease manifest itself and a two-hour study hardly qualifies. Besides, consumption of an additional 550 calories a day to receive a two-hour benefit is not my idea of health promotion. In addition to lack of double blind, placebo controlled, longitudinal studies
on chocolate, we know nothing of how much chocolate would be required to provide
these benefits.

Chocolate, by far, is the most commonly craved food in North America, especially among women. One classic study showed that almost half of food cravings are for chocolate.
Does chocolate have properties that promote drug-like effects? Sadly to say, there is no solid evidence to document these effects but let me give you just a sampling of the compounds contained in chocolate.

Biogenic amines, or neuromodulators of brain synapses may alter mood and promote depression when there is a deficit, are found in substantial concentrations in chocolate and some experts have gone so far as to suggest that chocolate cravings may be an attempt to self-regulate levels of these biogenic amines in the brain. Another group of compounds, the methylxanthines, are also present in chocolate including caffeine and theobromine, and both act as stimulants. But the amounts of these compounds in chocolate are variable and typically minimal and most researchers discount their link toward addictions.

The last groups of compounds found in chocolate are cannabinoid – like fatty acids. Anandamide, which literally means “internal bliss” is a representative compound of this class that binds to brain receptors, much the same as that found in marijuana, and also mimic many of the same effects as marijuana such as heightened sensitivity and euphoria. The amount of these compounds found in chocolate, however, is too small to induce these types of neurochemical effects.

Chocolate may not be classified as a “health food” but it certainly is a “pleasure” food that can be enjoyed in moderation.

Dr. Nancy DiMarco is a research professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, the nutrition coordinator for the Institute for Women's Health and coordinator of the master's program in Exercise and Sports Nutrition at Texas Woman's University. She can be reached at ndimarco@twu.edu.

Chocolate Facts

• Chocolate contributes less than 2 percent of the fat in the diets of Americans
  
• Chocolate contains little caffeine (milk chocolate: 3-10 mg/ 1.4 oz
  bar, dark chocolate: 28 mg/1.4 oz. bar compared to regular coffee: 65-150 mg/6
  oz)
  
• Chocolate is not responsible for tooth decay, hyperactivity, headaches,
  acne or diabetes.
  
• People do not become addicted to chocolate but they desire it for the
  sensation of eating it.

For Further Information Contact:

Roy Kron
Director of News and Information
Tel: (940) 898-3456
e-mail: rkron@twu.edu