chocolate in the news
Chocolate From Back Then
July 5, 2013
For the love of chocolate, myriads of studies and research were done just to trace back its history. While it’s nice to just enjoy your chocolate, it wouldn’t hurt to know how it made people from back then just as happy as we are now because of it.
Credits must be given to Fathers, specifically Dominicans, for having the Spanish appreciate chocolate. In 1544, they lured the court by preparing chocolate which was presented by a Kekchi Maya delegation of New World natives.
Because of faith, chocolate spread, making new regions of the world appreciate it. Europeans started to love it, so they used chocolate in Christian celebrations. They used chocolate to sustain different aspects of their lives, including physical, economic, as well as spiritual.
Heat-resistant Chocolate
June 28, 2013
We have all tried buying chocolate on a hot day, only to pull it out of your bag later and find it melted. This problem could now be a thing of the past, at least for some parts of the world.
After almost 10 years of meticulous research, the manufacturers of Cadbury and Toblerone chocolates are claiming they are now nearing launching of a heat-resistant chocolate to the world.
The top chocolate, biscuit and candy company, Mondelez International told Reuters that the product they will be introducing in the near future is able to endure temperatures as high as 104F and not melt.
Chocolate Genome For Better Tasting Chocolates
June 14, 2013
Weekends are always fun for me. I always like to keep it fun and filled with activities I can't do during weekdays. However, when things don't go my way and they don't go as planned for my weekend, I get devastated. Do I sound bratty if I say I get upset when my weekend plans don’t pull through? A little bit?
Times like this, the idea of some chocolate going into my mouth is not so bad. Nice to hear about the open access journal Genome Biology backing me up. They have launched a fully sequenced genome for the cacao plant which could supposedly yield even better tasting chocolates.
Chocolate Makes Everything Better, Even Bacon
June 7, 2013
We can all agree that one of the best things in life and one of the greatest gifts of God is food. It is, in fact, one of our few physiological needs. One can never do without food.
On that note, I personally think the best meal of the day is breakfast. I totally dig breakfast food. I get thrilled at the thought of breakfast food. So many times have I drifted to sleep thinking of what’s for breakfast.
I love waking up to the smell of breakfast food in the air. Why of course, when we say breakfast, bacon is always at the top of my mind. No, scratch that. Bacon always tops my list when it comes to food in general!
It’s no secret that I love chocolate, too. I still haven’t tried chocolate-covered bacon, despite the fact that I wrote about it several times already. It never fails to get my attention, though. And now, this… 23-Karat Gold Chocolate Bacon. Yup, you read right.
Carmit Candy Healthy Chocolate Coins
May 31, 2013
Carmit Candy in Israel has launched Grow Strong Chocolate Coins, a milk chocolate candy that has vitamins. They target children as their market with the coins containing calcium, vitamin D3, and vitamin K.
Adrian Sagman, vice president of international sales and marketing at Carmit, stated: “It’s a milk chocolate for children on a daily basis to get some calcium in their body. This one also has a tooth-friendly sugar ingredient so the parents don’t have to worry about their kids taking too much sugar.”
Mood-enhancing Dark Chocolate
May 24, 2013
A recently published study in Australia claimed that dark chocolate enhances one’s mood by means of boosting calmness and feelings of contentment. How is this possible? It’s all in the polyphenols that cocoa is known to be rich in.
Polyphenols are naturally found in plants and are a basic element of the human diet. Such compounds are proven to lessen oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is linked to a lot of diseases. Also, polyphenols are said to have outstanding psychological effects.
“Anecdotally, chocolate is often linked to mood enhancement,” Matthew Pase, a PhD candidate at the University of Swineburne in Melbourne and lead author of the study, claims. “This clinical trial is perhaps the first to scientifically demonstrate the positive effects of cocoa polyphenols on mood.”
Low-calorie Chocolate Tea, Anyone?
May 17, 2013
Twins Jodi and Stella Kean initially planned on having a tea bar, but when such plan didn't come about, they started their own novelty tea business.
"When the lease on the shop fell through we came up with the idea for choclateas. I don't think people realize how many calories and how much sugar is in a cup of hot chocolate. We wanted to create something that felt like a treat but was healthy," the Daily Express quoted Stella as saying.
They found a tea supplier and worked with an array of different flavors to come up with their tea containing fewer than 20 calories per cup. Last December, the twins were given start-up loans of 5,500 pounds. Melissa Middleton, who has plenty of businesses in the Newscastle area, also became their mentor.
Chocolate Is Better For Your Teeth Than Fluoride?
May 10, 2013
A recent groundbreaking study published in the dental journal, Caries Research, verified what the inventors of Theodent™ toothpaste have always been claiming.
Chocolate and Acne
April 26, 2013
Researchers at the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, collected blood samples from seven participants before and after consuming exactly 48 g of chocolate on a daily basis. This happened consecutively for four days.
The chocolate consumed had approximately 30% cocoa. The blood cells collected were then exposed to bacteria known as Propionibacterium acnes.
These bacteria are said to be a contributory factor for developing acne when they grown inside clogged pores. When it happens, the pores become inflamed. It leads to growth of Staphylococcus aureus, which is another type of skin bacteria that could worsen acne.
The blood cells produced more interleukin-1b after the participants had chocolate. Interleukin-1b refers to a marker of immune system inflammation when they were exposed to Propionibacterium acnes.
The researchers claimed that such findings indicated that eating chocolate may increase the inflammation which adds up to acne. Chocolate consumption also increased production of another immune system factor, known as interleukin 10, after having been exposed to Staphylococcus aureus, according to a report at MyHealthNewsDaily.
Interleukin 10 allegedly lowers the immunity against microorganisms. That being said, higher levels of interleukin 10 may end up in conditions that would pave way for bacteria to infect pimples, and aggravate them, according to the researchers.
Despite the many talks about chocolate and some other foods that are linked to acne, little is known as evidence to show they actually cause acne, said Dr. Kanade Shinkai, a dermatologist at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, who has acne treatments as specialty.
However, past studies have shown that high-glycemic foods, like white bread, could be associated with acne. This is because they are known to release sugar into the bloodstream rather quickly. While the acne problems of some people are affected by diet, others’ acne issues are not influenced by diet at all.
Shinkai made a warning against broad dietary restrictions, like avoiding diary, considering dairy products are significant sources of calcium and vitamin D for a lot of people, and the health advantages that come with the products outweigh the effects of acne, she claimed.
This research was published in the journal Cytokine.