Chocolate & Cocoa:
'Healthy'
Benefits, or Negative Health Effects?
Is
Chocolate a food of the gods because of its divine taste and Health Benefits,
or is
it because heavenly bodies don't have to worry about its Health Hazards?
Chocolate & Cocoa
Stories on the Health Benefits of
consuming Cocoa Products have increasingly made the news, following the
discovery that they are a rich source of catechins, which are
polyphenols of the flavanol group, and which are
believed to protect against heart disease, cancer, and various
other medical conditions.
Chocolate manufacturers, retailers, and the media have been taking
advantage of these findings by not only
trying to make chocolate lovers feel less guilty about their
addiction, but also by trying to target more health-
conscious consumers with regular doses of "research
studies" praising the supposed health benefits of
consuming (dark) chocolate, among them that:
• eating chocolate does not trigger migraine headaches,
• eating chocolate reduces
the risk of heart disease and cancer.
• eating chocolate does not
give someone acne or other skin eruptions,
• eating chocolate boosts
one's appetite, but does not cause weight gain,
• eating moderate amounts of
chocolate makes one live almost a year longer,
• eating chocolate releases
endorphins in the brain, which act as pain-relievers,
• the sugar in chocolate may
have a calming and pain relieving effect.
How reliable are all these
"Studies?"
When taking a closer look, one discovers that once the studies
funded by chocolate interest groups were
discarded, the ones left offered conflicting results. As
expected, some isolated compounds in cocoa did
however show certain health benefits. Because it is a common
practice in nutritional research to do studies
on food fractions, outcomes may sometimes appear negative because
they are done without any co-factors
or "Whole-Food" nutrients. However in the case of
cocoa, some of the research was positive because all the
detrimental ingredients in chocolate - and their negative health
effects - were not part of
the study.
If people were to consume pure cocoa, they
might indeed be able to enjoy a few health benefits, including
a positive effect on blood pressure[63] and
glucose metabolism, however the majority of people eat processed
chocolate with all the other less
desirable ingredients (i.e. added sugar, corn syrup, milk fats / dairy cream,
hydrogenated oils, etc.), and where the actual cocoa content may
be less than 20%, so unless premium dark
chocolate is consumed, and one does not suffer from copper
overload (see further below), all bets regarding
chocolate being healthy are off.
With claims made of sugar having a "pain-relieving"
effect (babies fed a sucrose solution felt less pain from
needles), it is doubtful that we will see chocolate bars replacing
conventional analgesics any time soon, nor
are these same "researchers" making these
sugar-promoting claims likely going to reach for a chocolate bar
next time they suffer from a throbbing toothache, a pounding
headache, or a kidney stone attack.
While cocoa and sugar do not "cause" acne, the sugar present in chocolate will most certainly
make acne,
or any other acne-like skin eruptions worse, as anyone suffering from these skin conditions can attest to.
Placebo-controlled trials showed that some of the chemicals in
chocolate (phenylethylamine, theobromine,
or caffeine), can indeed trigger migraines by altering cerebral
blood flow and releasing norepinephrine in
some of those prone to suffer from migraine headaches. Of
all of the foods isolated that triggered the most
attacks, chocolate was an offender about 30% of the time.
Claiming that "eating moderate amounts of
chocolate increases one's life span" is a most interesting
example of how some "researchers" will twist and
manipulate statistics to prove anything!
"Chocolate-Is-Good-For-You" campaigns through the media or the prominent placement of
leaflets at confectionery counters keep feeding the consumer "made-to-order" research results
whose outcome is pre-determined to satisfy an agenda (i.e. selling
chocolate), with little relevance
to science or facts. Considering that
tobacco has also shown some health benefits, particularly
with ulcerative colitis and Parkinson's disease, would this be a reason to entice people to start smoking?
From a nutritional perspective - the average milk chocolate
product is no less a junk food than ice
cream
or donuts, and it is equally unhealthy and fattening when large
amounts are consumed on a regular basis.
While no one is trying to discourage people from enjoying an
occasional chocolate treat - selling chocolate
on the premises of providing health benefits, and urging consumers
to increase their chocolate consumption
for "Health Reasons" leaves
nutritional research less than credible, particularly when diabetes and obesity
have become an out-of-control global problem.
The good news is, premium grade dark chocolate contains only cocoa
butter, a fat that naturally occurs in
cocoa beans, which is made up of stearic acid (34%), oleic acid
(34%), palmitic acid (25%), and the rest of
other fatty acids, whereby the combined effect of all the fats
found in cocoa butter is quite neutral in regard
to an individual's lipid (heart disease risk) profile.
However, when milk chocolate, or
lower grade chocolate is
consumed, part of the total fat content of chocolate comes from
milk fat or various other types of fat, which
offer no extra health benefits, but instead create a risk factor
with cardiovascular disease.
Despite the good news on cocoa not
raising LDL cholesterol, even dark chocolate is a very calorie-dense
food, so while the fat content may not invite cardiovascular
disease from an atherogenic (arterial clogging)
perspective, its regular consumption will add a lot of extra
calories to someone's daily total, and as a result
still affect those who have to watch their caloric intake.
Nevertheless, being listed as the No.1 ingredient in
many chocolate products, sugar is unquestionably a worse culprit
compared to the fat content when
addressing the effect of chocolate on someone's overall health.
Sugar is a well-known cause, contributing, or
aggravating factor with a host of medical conditions, including
heart disease, inflammatory conditions, immune system disorders,
impaired phagocytosis, mood disorders,
insulin and blood sugar disorders, leukemia, tooth decay, yeast
infections, depletion of essential nutrients,
Cocoa products also contain pharmacological
substances such as n-acylethanolamines that are related
to cannabis (marijuana), they contain stimulants such as
phenylethylamine, which have an anti-depressant
and amphetamine-like effect; and they contain compounds that
stimulate the brain to release an opiate-like
substance called anandamide. When drugs are used to block
the brain's opiate receptors, the desire for
chocolate (and other sweet and fatty foods) disappears --
confirming the addictive nature of these types
of foods.
But despite cocoa being such an opiate and endorphin-releasing
pharmacological powerhouse, who would
have guessed that when chocoholics were given cocoa in capsules -
without the added fat and sugar, and
without the feel of chocolate melting in their mouths - it had no
satisfying effect at all!
However, while eating the actual chocolate bar satisfied the
cravings for it, studies showed that there was
no improvement with mood, relaxation, feeling content, depression,
or guilt, after eating chocolate.
The health benefits of polyphenols are easily demonstrated in a
test-tube environment, however cocoa also
happens to be very high in Copper, which
unfortunately inhibits the
action of certain flavonoids, particularly
Hesperidin, which is an essential
flavanone (see also "Bioflavonoids").
This can lead to a greater incidence
of vascular degeneration such as varicose veins, hemorrhoids,
aneurysms, bruising, heart disease, and stroke
in those with elevated copper levels.
While low copper levels can be
implicated with weak and fragile blood vessels also, high copper levels
are much more common in many parts of the world, with nearly 90%
of patients tested exhibiting a chemical
profile that - in addition to their own unique chemistry -
contained an underlying pattern that reflects the
impact of copper overload on various nutrients, which include
chromium, molybdenum, nickel, hesperidin,
Vitamin C, sulfur, and others.
The additional consumption of high
copper sources such as chocolate and cocoa products, cola drinks,
coffee, (as well as shellfish, liver, soy products, and some nuts
and seeds), not only aggravates many high
copper-related medical conditions, but it is responsible for
creating new ones. At the same time, copper is
an important co-factor for angiogenesis (new
blood vessel formation with cancers), so with the exception
of colon cancer, for which copper and calcium are somewhat
protective for, most other types of malignant
or benign tumors, hemangiomas, fibroids, etc., are associated with
high copper levels.
Dark, bitter chocolate has the
highest catechin content, but at the same time has also the highest copper
level. Light or milk chocolate has the lowest copper level,
but also the lowest catechin content.
*
Risk factor for cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, joint
degeneration, and other conditions.
The health benefits gained by following a high flavonoid intake,
and the resulting decrease of some medical
problems is eventually offset by steadily increasing copper
levels, which will inhibit flavonoid activity, and
which will over time promote an increase
in these very same medical conditions!
The high sugar content in chocolate increases Chromium
requirements (chromium is an associated trace
mineral to copper). The resulting high copper / low chromium
ratio creates an increased risk for trabecular
bone loss, and it can trigger or worsen blood sugar-related,
and/or inflammatory conditions that may raise
the risk or incidence of chronic tonsil infections, recurring
bladder infections, some forms of arthritis, or
similar problems of the immune system in prone individuals.
By lowering Sulfur, high
copper levels are a common cause or aggravating factor of osteoarthritis, for
which
some people take glucosamine sulfate or MSM supplements. If
successful, they partly work by counteracting
high copper levels and thus help to reverse or slow cartilage or
joint degeneration. Other than the effect of
chocolate on an individual's mood, elevated copper levels - by
inhibiting sulfur - can adversely affect memory
and concentration, so progressive copper storage as a result of
long-term high copper intake, combined with
increasingly diminishing sulfur levels can eventually contribute
to, or lead to mental impairment or dementia.
Chocolate contains theobromine and a small amount of caffeine,
both being stimulants and members of the
methylxanthine family. Although it increases alertness,
theobromine doesn't have the same jittery effect on
the heart like caffeine. However, theobromine can be toxic or even lethal to domestic animals such as
dogs, cats, parrots and horses as a result of affecting their
kidneys, heart, and central nervous system.
Another health risk and concern - particularly for young children
- are the high Lead concentrations in cocoa
and chocolate products, which according to the Environmental
Health Perspectives (2005)[90], are
supposed
to be one of the highest reported for all food items, although
there have been challenges to these claims.[91]
From a clinical perspective, and putting aside the commercial hype
that has been created of late to boost the
image of chocolate - people with the highest intake of chocolate
either end up with excessive copper levels,
or elevated VLDL triglycerides (from all that sugar). On
average, most chocoholic patients test high in both.
As is the case with other sweets - anything beyond a casual
consumption of chocolate will result in reduced,
not improved health, without even going into some more immediate
health concerns that some individuals
experience from consuming chocolate, such as allergic reactions,
chronic mucus / sinus problems, heartburn,
esophageal reflux (GERD), kidney stones, fibrocystic breast
disease, migraine headaches, or aggravated PMS.
Nevertheless - in moderation -
chocolate can certainly be the Sinful
Delight it was meant to be! ¤