A chocolate chemistry session, how could I refuse? Not only that, but when I got there I realised that there were also free samples.
Happily, from the talks I saw, ‘eat chocolate, it’s good for you’ seems to be the message. A lot of the science focused on the antioxidant in chocolate and the individual studies were compelling, although everyone was sure to highlight that cutting out other risk factors, such as smoking, is even more important. Not only were there individual studies, but Eric Ding from Harvard Medical School presented a meta analysis that suggested those conclusions were part of a larger pantheon of evidence.
But the really interesting talk for me, was one from Francisco Villarreal of UCSD that suggested that as well as chemical actions, the antioxidant chemicals epicatechin and catechin also have biological mechanisms. That they seem to affect signalling pathways and receptors, and even act as antagonists to each other. And how much chocolate do you need for this affect? Villareal says less is more: about 5g of dark chocolate. A paper is apparently in the pipeline with pretty big results, so stay tuned!
Villareal is, however, a big proponent of chocolate. From it’s mystical health and strength giving importance in Mesoamerica to its benefits brought back to Europe, and essentially being described as the first super food, Villareal says he believes that that’s all down to the flavanols and minerals in the chocolate. And who am I to argue with Casanova, who consumed chocolate before ‘entertaining’ – perhaps he needed a pick me up to boost his stamina!
So for both antioxidant benefits, and the more biological effects, the advice is the more cocoa solids the better, but how much of it you eat is, as always, probably more to do with appetite rather than intention.
Laura Howes
Source:
http://prospect.rsc.org/blogs/cw/?feed=rss2
Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith
