A guilty treasure
When Robert Falcon Scott and his crew set off for the South Pole, two of the precious foods that they chose to carry with them were malted cocoa powders and milk chocolate bars. If you are facing temperatures of -22°C, searing winds and intense physical exertion, chocolate offers not only nutrition and calories but also comfort. Of course, even if you aren’t racing a bunch of Norwegians across the Antarctic, chocolate has a lot to recommend it. Chocolate is not just a food, it is an event, an expectation, a gift, a solace, a celebration and a companion. You will have turned to chocolate at some time, maybe even today, possibly as you read this. We all have. The question is whether you need to relax about enjoying your chocolate or is it too good to be true? Should you feel a little guilt about your chocolate indulgence? To answer that, we will have to look a little more closely at what chocolate is and dig into the research that suggests that it might even be a health food.
Aztecs to Aussies
The earliest evidence of chocolate consumption by humans comes from the town of Colha in northern Belize, where ceramic vessels have been found to contain traces of chocolate and have been dated to 2600 years old. In Central America, successive civilisations from the Olmec to the Mayans to the Aztecs embraced chocolate with gusto.
Think you’re a chocoholic? See how you measure up to the world’s first documented chocoholic, the Aztec king Montezuma. When Hernando Cortez and his Spanish conquistadors stumbled across him in 1519, he was in the habit of quaffing around 50 flagons of cacahuatl or xoxocatl every day. This drink was the forerunner of the hot chocolate we drink today.
If you want to make chocolate like Montezuma had it, try mixing cocoa powder with water (or wine), corn meal, vanilla and chillies. Tip this from one container to another to make it froth and drink it cold. Remember, the Aztec palate was very different to ours, so don’t expect this drink to be the luscious chocolatey experience you are accustomed to. In 1519, Cortez and his Spaniards very quickly decided to heat the drink and add sugar, while removing some of the spice. Even this sweetened form of chocolate took a while to take off in the European homeland, until the English began adding milk to their hot chocolate and a gastronomic phenomenon was born.
From that point, chocolate quickly became a drink for the nobility across Europe, but the masses enjoyed it too. By the mid-1600s, chocolate houses were all the rage and men of power would meet over cups of exotic hot chocolate to discuss affairs of state. The Queen’s Lane Coffee House on High Street, Oxford, in the UK, has been serving hot chocolate since 1650 and continues to do so. What really unleashed the dark power of chocolate, however, was the discovery that it could be consumed as a solid.
In 1828, a Dutchman named Van Houten found a way to press the cocoa butter out of the beans. With the cocoa butter removed, the beans could be pounded to a cake, then mixed with sugar and some of the original cocoa butter to make a solid. In 1879, the Swiss Daniel Petr added powdered milk to the solid chocolate and the rest, as they say, is delicious, I mean, history.
In 2024, global revenue from chocolate is expected to have reached US$254 billion (approx. AU$383 billion). In Australia, we generate US$3.5 billion (approx. AU$5.3 billion) every year, with that figure expected to grow by 8.5 per cent in the next two to three years. That breaks down to the average Australian consuming 32kg of chocolate per year. Chew on that figure.
Melting magic
Chocolate is based on cocoa, which comes from the bean of the cacao tree. The tree is thought to have originated in Brazil and now grows in tropical climates all over the world in places such as Venezuela, the Caribbean and West Africa. The botanical name of the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao, “Theobroma” being Greek for “food of the gods”.
Cocoa beans have more than 600 chemical components and 230 of these are believed to have possible health benefits. Many of these beneficial compounds are polyphenols (or flavonoids). In fact, the cocoa bean is naturally a richer source of flavonoids than broccoli or green tea. When the cocoa bean is processed, it produces cocoa solids that are rich in flavonoids, and cocoa butter, a fatty substance that contains no flavonoids. The types of chocolate available in the market reflect variations in the amount of cocoa solids and cocoa butter used, as well as the amounts of other additives.
The Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) definition of chocolate is based on the term “cocoa solids”, which it defines as the non-fat solids found in chocolate mass. According to FSANZ, all chocolate must contain at least 20 per cent cocoa solids. The three main types of chocolate available are “milk chocolate”, “dark chocolate” and “white chocolate”.
Milk chocolate: Probably the most widely consumed form of chocolate today, milk chocolate is made from cocoa butter, cocoa solids, milk, sugar and vanilla. Amounts of each of these will vary from product to product.
Dark chocolate: This is more bitter than milk chocolate, as it does not contain milk, it has more room for cocoa solids. It, therefore, contains more health-promoting flavonoids than its milky brethren. Some dark chocolates have 70–80 per cent cocoa and the rest is sugar, cocoa butter and sometimes vanilla.
White chocolate: It is a bit cheeky to call this chocolate as it contains no cocoa (and therefore no flavonoids) at all. White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, sugar, milk and vanilla.
A major part of chocolate’s appeal is its physical properties. Its texture is pleasant and matches its flavour, which is subject to the same panoply of ridiculous descriptors as is wine. What really defines the experience of chocolate, though, is its melting point. Chocolate melts at somewhere between 30 and 33°C, so that it is solid at room temperature but melts as soon as it hits your tongue. The melting point changes with the amount of cocoa fats present, so dark chocolate will generally melt the fastest as it contains the most cocoa solids. There is no doubt that chocolate is good to eat but is it possible that it might also be good for you?
Healer or vice?
When you eat chocolate, you are eating much more, or sometimes less, than cocoa and its flavonoids, depending on the form of chocolate you choose. It is also believed that modern processing of chocolate destroys a large portion of the beneficial flavonoids. Despite this, many of the studies mentioned below were done using commercially available forms of chocolate, so some of the health benefits do linger on in the modern food.
Chocolate as a mood booster: It has been thought that chocolate boosts levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, hence inducing a feeling of wellbeing and even euphoria. Research from the University of New South Wales, however, suggests that this is not the case. This research did, however, suggest that chocolate might activate the dopamine system of the brain, which generates a sense of positive reward and also the anticipation of pleasure.
Chocolate also links into the opioid receptors of the brain and acts in the same way as marijuana. The narcotic actions of marijuana arise because of a compound called THC that binds to “feel-good” receptors in the brain. Chocolate does not contain THC, but it does contain something called anandamide that binds to those same receptors. Chocolate also contains substances that stop anandamide from being broken down, so the “buzz” lasts longer.
Moreover, the taste and texture of chocolate in the mouth are utterly and sensuously pleasurable. These qualities are enough to boost a low mood on their own.
Chocolate as stress relief: “I need chocolate!” Many of us have said that after a hard day, after a relationship break up, or after our favourite team loses. At some deep level, we all share the belief that chocolate will ease the stresses of life and research suggests that we might be right. One study published in the Journal of Proteome Research asked people who were identified as suffering from chronic stress to have 20g of dark chocolate at morning and afternoon tea for two weeks. Blood tests showed that levels of the stress hormones cortisol, adrenalin and noradrenalin all dropped significantly in response to the chocolate treatment.
Chocolate as an aphrodisiac: When Cortez and his men met with the Aztec people, several of the literate among them kept journals of what they saw. This translated passage from the journal of Bernal Diaz suggests why the Spaniards may have taken such a keen interest in “chocolatl”.
“From time to time, the men of Montezuma’s guard brought him, in cups of pure gold, a drink made from the cocoa plant, which they said he took before visiting his wives… I saw them bring in 50 large jugs of chocolate, all frothed up, of which he would drink a little.” (Bernal Díaz del Castillo: 1560).
Chocolate’s reputation as an aphrodisiac is widespread. Who can honestly say that they have never proffered a chocolate in the hope that it might grease the wheels of affection? In all truth, though, there is scant evidence that chocolate does boost libido except in that it may boost mood. A better mood can make you more disposed to all sorts of things.
Chocolate for the heart: Eighteenth-century physicians believed that chocolate strengthened the heart. In the 1990s, it was found that indeed the flavonoids from cocoa can protect the cardiovascular system and much research has followed.
Tufts University in Boston reported that eating dark chocolate may help lower blood pressure. One study found that white chocolate, which does not contain flavonoids, yielded no benefit for blood pressure. However, dark chocolate led to a significant drop in blood pressure. The researchers did caution that since dark chocolate contains high amounts of fat, this might, in the long term, offset the shorter-term benefits.
Another study reported that eating dark chocolate can protect the blood vessels themselves. Researchers found that after eating 100g of commercial dark chocolate, an artery in the arm of volunteers dilated significantly more in response to blood flow and they had a seven per cent decrease in the stiffness of their aorta (the major artery leading from the heart). Chocolate flavonoids improve blood vessel function by increasing the availability of nitric oxide release and prostacyclin in the body.
Additionally, a study from the Netherlands reported that the flavonoids from cocoa improve the functioning of the cells that line blood vessels. The study lasted 15 years and found that men who ate the most cocoa were only half as likely to die during the trial than those who did not eat it. Before you go out and binge, however, even the highest cocoa consumers were only having an average of 4g of cocoa per day.
Sugar and fat from chocolate products are unfortunately counterproductive to heart health. So to do anything for your heart, eat the high-cocoa-content dark chocolates (70–80 per cent) and eat it in moderation.
Chocolate for the brain: Chocolate contains many substances that act as mental stimulants, such as theobromine, phenethylamine and caffeine. Although a 50g chocolate bar only has about 20 per cent of the caffeine of a cup of filter coffee, chocolate does seem to stimulate mental performance, but it might just be the sugar in chocolate that is doing the work.
Avoiding deranged confusion
To get the greatest health benefit from your chocolate, choose a dark chocolate high in cocoa. This maximises your flavonoid content. On the other hand, there are occasions when life demands indulgence and, at these times, go for pure, melting taste.
In the end, you can take a guide from the Spanish priest Bernadino de Sahagun who in 1529 wrote the Florentine Codex. This was a compilation of the medicinal knowledge that he had found among the Aztecs. Included in the Florentine Codex was a recommendation that chocolate would invigorate and refresh if used in moderation. Excessive use of chocolate, however, was said to leave the consumer “confused and deranged”.
Almost 500 years later, you can heed de Sahagun’s words and, by eating your chocolate in moderation, get the best of this heavenly product.
