The Benefits of Chocolate :)

1. Simply Chocolate
From Cocoa to Cough Medicine
Presented In Oct 2007

2. What does Chocolate Bring to Mind for you?

3. Chocolate
1. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
2. Chocolate- Bean Tree Plant
3. Chocolate Health Benefits & Consumption

4. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• The Maya and Aztec
• They mixed ground cacao seeds with other
seasonings
– to make a spicy, frothy drink.

5. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• “Spanish conquistadors
– Brought it to Spain
– popularity spread throughout Europe.
– The divine drink which builds up resistance
and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink
permits a man to walk for a whole day without
food.”
Hernando Cortes, 1519

6. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• 1870
• First Milk Chocolate Bar developed
– By Henri Nestle & Daniel Peter in Switzerland
• New machine invented to churn cacao
seeds into smooth blend
– Gives chocolate mellow texture
– Invented by Rodolphe Lindt

7. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• 1893
• Hershey buys chocolate processing
equipment
• Builds a chocolate factory
– Hershey, Pennsylvania

8. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• Following WW II
• Hershey received the
– Army –Navy award for
civilian contribution to victory
• Today, US Army rations include
– three 4 ounce chocolate bars

9. Ch Chocolate from a Historical
Perspective
• 1926-27
• The New York
Coffee, Sugar and COCOA exchange
established

10. Chocolate from a Historical Perspective
• It still remains one of the world’s
favorite flavors
• But where does this wonderful
flavor come from?

11. Chocolate Plant/ Tree
• 3 main varieties of
Cocoa Bean
• Grow on trunks of tree

12. Chocolate Plant/ Tree
• About size of pineapple
• Pods contain 30-50 seeds
– Equivalent to what is needed
to make 7 milk chocolate
bars

13. Many Ingredients Found in Chocolate
• The seeds of the chocolate tree
– Contain many substances
• Therapeutic and addictive qualities

14. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
• Dark Chocolate
• High in flavenoids and
gallic acid
– Thought to be
cardioprotective
– Wikipedia, 2006

15. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
• Tryptophan
– Essential amino acid
– Important neurotransmitter for Serotonin
– is thought to produce feelings of pleasure.
Mood regulator

16. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
• Coughing
• Chocolate shown to be more effective in
preventing coughs than codeine
• Study done in 2006

17. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
• Flavonol
• Being researched
• Potential treatment for diabetes and
dementia
• American & European universities studying this with millions of
dollars from Mars Inc

18. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
• Caffeine
– Weak stimulant for humans
– Strong stimulant for Horses and dogs
• Outlawed for horse-racing

19. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
Chocolate, who eats it anyway?
• melting point
– it melts in the mouth.

20. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
Chocolate, who eats it anyway?
• Africans- export the most of it, but don’t
eat much
• Asians- not large appetite for chocolate

21. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
Who eats it anyway?
• Europeans-
– 12 million pounds of chocolate a year
– Switzerland leads the pack
• 22 pounds per person per year

22. Therapeutic Effects of Eating Chocolate
Who eats it anyway?
• Americans
• 12 pounds/ per person/ per year
– 3.3 billion pounds
– 13 billion a year spent on chocolate

23. Chocolate
1. From a Historical Perspective
2. Cacao Tree
3. Health Benefits & Consumption
ENJOY !

24. References
• Usmani, Omar S.; Maria G. Belvisi, Hema J. Patel, Natascia Crispino, Mark
A. Birrell, Márta Korbonits, Dezso Korbonits, and Peter J. Barnes (February
2005). "Theobromine inhibits sensory nerve activation and cough" (PDF).
FASEB Journal 19 (2): 231-233. DOI:10.1096/fj.04-1990fje. PubMed.
Retrieved on 2006-06-27.
• http://shop.ghirardelli.com/
• http://www.fieldmuseum.org/Chocolate/
• http://www.virtualchocolate.com/