Moderate consumption of chocolate, studies show, can lead to increased brain activity, ward off heart disease and improve your mood. But with chocolate, it's not so simple. It can be dangerous too.
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Ever since the Maya and Aztecs began making chocolate about three thousand years ago by mixing cocoa beans with water and pepper, there has been a debate about the health effects of chocolate.
Swedish scientist Karl von Lynn called chocolate the food of the gods, and in the 19th century, chocolate was even sold in pharmacies as a medicine to strengthen strength and vigor. Today chocolate is the joy of children and adults, but few people know that it contains harmful substances.
In addition to grated cocoa beans and cocoa butter, a chocolate bar contains an alkaloid - theobromine, which is similar in chemical composition to caffeine. It is he who causes the excitation of the heart muscle, but theobromine is also a toxic substance.
Fortunately, human metabolism is too fast for theobromine to be absorbed, but our smaller brothers may well suffer from it - this is especially dangerous for horses, dogs and cats. Theobromine poisoning is often fatal, so in no case should you feed your pets with chocolate.
In addition to the ingredients indicated on the packaging, chocolate can contain bad impurities, especially? if it's inexpensive. These can be palm or coconut oils. And in the course of recent experiments in dark chocolate, ochratoxin, dangerous to humans, was found.
Other studies point to higher levels of harmful cadmium in dark chocolate. However, the greatest danger chocolate poses for people prone to obesity and diabetics.
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Everyone who has tried chocolate at least once notes that the pleasure caused by this delicacy wants to be repeated. Scientists have previously suggested that chocolate can be addictive due to the substance andanamide, which has a similar effect to that of marijuana. In addition, chocolate stimulates the production of serotonin, the hormone of happiness. Doses of caffeine and theobromine, psychostimulants, have a positive effect on performance and creativity. But is chocolate a drug?
Recent research suggests that the effect of shock addiction is psychological rather than chemical. Chocolate contains more than 500 substances, and it is rather difficult to say how they interact, and whether the effects neutralize each other. But the combination of pleasant consistency, taste, sweetness, aroma makes all human organs of perception work at full capacity.
A kind of synesthesia increases the overall emotional experience of eating chocolate - if it were just sweet, like sugar, a person would not feel so delighted. In addition, it is known that chocolate contains a lot of calories, fat and sugar, and therefore there is an unspoken ban on its excessive consumption. It is thanks to this taboo that a person gets additional pleasure, just as it happens with smokers.
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Stimulating the release of endorphin and serotonin - hormones of happiness - is one of the most attractive virtues in chocolate. However, besides this, chocolate also contains phenylethylamine and phenamine - substances that are produced by the human brain during sexual arousal.
A study by Milanese scientists showed that subjects who consumed chocolate were more satisfied with sex. Chocolate affects women and men differently, affecting precisely those areas of the brain known as pleasure zones.
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Chocolate contains a lot of magnesium, calcium, iron, potassium, B vitamins. Magnesium and potassium are natural stimulants of the nervous system. Some studies show that chocolate has a positive effect on brain function, in particular by improving memory, increasing alertness, helping to cope with increased irritability - while also improving mood.
Brain activity is stimulated by flavanol, which activates active blood flow to the brain. Chocolate, which naturally contains flavanol, helps the blood reach those areas of the brain that are responsible for memory and reaction. However, most of the flavanol is destroyed when the cocoa beans are cooked, therefore, the effect of eating chocolate will not be too quick and overwhelming. It should be noted that flavanol is contained in dark chocolate, and milk chocolate will not cause any effect.
Igor Lindberg