“Chocolate heals you. Whatever ails you, chocolate is the cure.”
That’s what we’d all love to hear. However, most people would laugh at that claim.
By now you may be thinking: Is it true? Can chocolate cure you? After all, there must be a reason why people have been recommending chocolate as medicine for over 500 years.
Let’s look into the history of this always appreciated (and occasionally maligned) ingredient to see why.
How chocolate was used as medicine: 1500s to 1900s
When you get into chocolate’s long history, people through time have recommended it as a healer. Mexican medicine in the 1500s recommended cacao for everything from heart troubles to digestive troubles, gout to bad teeth.
In Spain in the 1600s, cacao was considered an aphrodisiac and a diuretic. Doctors recommended it to improve depression and anxiety, alleviate respiratory problems, resolve flatulence, and even calm hypochondriacs.
In the 1700s Benjamin Franklin advocated the use of chocolate against smallpox in his Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Chocolate was even used as army rations during World War II, when K Rations kept millions of soldiers going on biscuits, sausage, candy and chocolate.
Chocolate as part of a healthy diet
In modern times, the health benefits of cacao have been extensively examined. Flavanols that are present in cacao may help improve blood flow, increase insulin sensitivity, lower cholesterol, and even help athletes perform better.
Most of the positive results focus on cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory benefits. Here are a few:
Cacao is also an antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory effect, and improves brain function.
Chocolate can help your heart! Consuming chocolate can lower the risk of cardiovascular events.
According to the American Academy of Neurology, eating one serving of chocolate a week can reduce the risk of stroke by a whopping 22%. And in one study, eating 50 grams of chocolate a week reduced the risk of having a stroke by 46%! Powerful medicine indeed.
According to a Harvard study, chocolate may improve brain function.
And of course, it improves our mood. Which all women know and few need a doctor or scientist to confirm.
Is chocolate always healthy?
The problem with chocolate in modern times is that many brands have added cacao butter, sugar, dairy, and fillers to their recipes.
Dark chocolate has anywhere from 50-90% cacao solids, cacao butter, and sugar. Milk chocolate, on the other hand, may barely have any cacao. It can have as little as 10%, and the rest will be dairy, sugar, and various fillers.
When you dip into lower quality products, you’ll find butterfat, vegetable oils, and artificial flavorings and colors. Check the labels carefully, and research any ingredient that sounds bizarre.
White chocolate, by the way, does not have cacao solids. It does have cacao butter along with milk and sugar – which means it doesn’t qualify as having the health benefits of chocolate.
Does that mean I can eat as much chocolate as I want?
Remember that even dark chocolate has high amounts of sugar and fat. So don’t overdo it. Just a few ounces will give you potential benefits without potential side effects like weight gain.
Also, remember that cacao has caffeine, so you might want to be cautious about what time of day you consume it.
When we conduct our Colombian Coffee and Chocolate Workshops, we’ve noticed that our energy levels are out of this world. We didn’t understand why – after all, we’re used to large amounts of caffeine from coffee – until we understood a bit about theobromine.
Theobromine, which is in cacao, stimulates the central nervous system and gives you a quick pick-me-up. When it’s compounded with coffee, it may propel you to new levels of energy.
The conclusion is: Be careful to limit your quantity of cacao – just because it has health benefits doesn’t mean we can eat an excess of it.
So, is cacao the wonder food that will solve all your health problems? Probably not.
But science has given the team here at Flavors of Bogota enough encouragement to continue enjoying our moderate weekly consumption of dark chocolate – and mixing it up with good amounts of walking, which is an easy thing to get when living in Bogota.
Join us for a Colombian Coffee and Chocolate Workshop and find out more about chocolate and Colombia.
