Eat chocolate while you can (2/24/04)

Quick, eat some chocolate while it is still good for you. Did you hear the latest nutrition news? It seems that now chocolate is beneficial to your health. Supposedly, chocolate helps block free radicals that damage our arteries.

When I was younger we were all known as radicals, even if we really weren’t. Living in America we were also free. Does that mean that we were a generation of free radicals? I don’t remember chocolate blocking any of us from doing anything, not that we were concerned with arteries of any kind back then.

I have found information that suggests that coca flavonoids relax the blood vessels. Just what we all need are relaxed blood vessels. Is this a good thing? Do we want our blood vessels to be relaxed? How do we tell?

This same article says that chocolate could “inhibit platelet aggregation which could cause a heart attack.” If this is true then I will never have to worry about having a heart attack even though almost all of my uncles, both grandparents and my mother have all experienced a heart attack at one time or another. I eat enough chocolate to ward off heart problems forever.

I like this advice to include chocolate in my diet. It is so much more pleasant than the usual instructions to eat more vegetables, less fat, less red meat and less of anything that tastes good. Downing a piece of rich, dark chocolate is now good for my health instead of a guilty pleasure. I’d much rather savor the sweetness than eat some yucky green vegetable.

This news about the benefits of cocoa comes in time for the best treat of the year – hollow chocolate Easter bunnies. Do you think my doctor would write me a prescription that says, “Take two bunnies and call me in the morning”? Somehow I doubt it.

The scientific name of the cacao tree’s fruit is “Theobroma Cacao” This translates to “food of the gods”. I think it is an appropriate label.

Aztec legend says that cacao seeds had been brought from paradise and that wisdom and power came from eating the fruit of the cacao tree. Another tale relates that Montezuma regularly consumed a chocolate concoction before entering his harem. Perhaps he needed the aphrodisiac effect chocolate is known for. I wonder if it worked.

Other chocolate trivia says that in 1657, 100 cocoa seeds could buy a “tolerably good slave.” Presumably surly or incompetent slaves cost less. Chocolate was also recommended to cure Cardinal Richelieu. As the only thing I remember about this illustrious person is that he was a very bad man, I am unsure as to what medical condition the chocolate was supposed to remedy. Maybe his arteries weren’t relaxed?

Milk chocolate didn’t come into existence until 1876. How did people ever live without this marvelous confection? It wasn’t until 1894 that name we all associate with chocolate, Milton Hershey, established his company. Some days it seems it my sole purpose in life to keep his company in business.

I don’t know if chocolate is really good for my heart but it is good for my soul. It is a simple treat that has years of legends behind it. As much as I like it, I doubt if it is really food for gods, an aphrodisiac or a source of wisdom and power. The scientific community is constantly changing the guidelines for what is good for us and what is bad. So until chocolate becomes bad for us again I will enjoy this treat with the reasoning that I am protecting my arteries from free radicals.

After chocolate loses favor and once again becomes bad for us I will continue to chow down on chocolate and wait for the scientists to realize that no one food is evil and that chocolate has a positive effect on our souls if not our bodies.[[In-content Ad]]