The Current

Issue date: 2/14/05 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: Mike Sherwin

On St. Valentine's Day, sweet thoughts turn to chocolate.

Well, maybe not just chocolate, but there are real reasons to associate chocolate with love and other good things.

There is more that is beneficial in chocolate than the taste but to get the extra benefits, along with the best taste, you have to buy good chocolate. Common candy bars have less real chocolate than you may think.

Chocolate has a number of drug-like effects. It has caffeine, although less than coffee, another mild stimulate and diuretic called theobromine, another substance that is a building block of the neurotransmitter that produces pleasure, and more. It has substances that are beneficial for heart health, that sustain a pleasure response in the brain, and mood-altering compounds that put one in the mood for love.

The best chocolate for these effects is dark chocolate. Milk chocolate has less of the dark-colored, cocoa compounds associated with health benefits, and white chocolate has virtually none. Dark chocolate has a stronger, more intense chocolate flavor and a hint of bitterness that not everyone prefers. Ironically, the bitterness is associated with some good things.

Chocolate has compounds that make you feel good and also antioxidants, which have been associated with anti-aging and other health benefits.

On the downside, chocolate has a lot of calories without a lot of nutrients. However, many of the calories come from the sugar added to counter cocoa's natural bitterness.

Chocolate is made from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree, a South American plant that was cultivated in many parts of the Americas even before Columbus arrived. The Aztecs ground the seeds, partially roasted them and mixed them with water, corn, chilies and spices to make a bitter, sacred drink. Europeans added sweeteners, created the solid confection and eventually added milk solids to create milk chocolate. Chocolate and chilies are still used together in Mexican cooking.

The cocoa seeds from which chocolate is made contain a number of interesting compounds. These include cocoa butter, theobromine, caffeine, and a red plant color (cacao-red). Theobromine is a chemical related to caffeine.

The major health problem with chocolate is the extra empty calories added by the sugars that make it sweet. However, the sweetness is part of what makes chocolate so appealing to us. Some studies have indicated that some people inherit a "sweet tooth," which contributes to the chocoholic's "addiction" to chocolate. But there is more to the appeal of chocolate than the taste for sweetness.

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