However, due to the obvious increase in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obesity and other diseases in the 20th century, some people began to accuse chocolate as a junk food with high calorie and high sugar content. However, in recent years, scientists all over the world have published some research results, which have completely changed people's understanding of chocolate.
Chocolate has been used as medicine for a long time.
In 600 AD, the Mayans in Central America began to make chocolate drinks from cocoa beans. 1522, Spanish explorer Hernan Koster brought cocoa beans back to Spain, and chocolate was "immigrated" to Europe. Later, chocolate was constantly improved by the Spanish, adding herbs, cinnamon and other ingredients, which became more delicious and quickly occupied an important position in the upper class of European countries. During World War II, chocolate even became a necessity for frontline soldiers.
Besides being delicious, according to experts' research, chocolate has been not only a fashionable and noble food in the United States and Europe for more than 500 years, but also a specific medicine used by doctors to treat tuberculosis, anemia, gastrointestinal discomfort, kidney calculi and other diseases.
Chocolate can relieve stress.
Westerners love chocolate, and only Americans eat 65.438+0.27 billion kilograms of chocolate every year. Why is it so attractive? Modern scientific research has found that chocolate can become a romantic food, which has a lot to do with its chemical function.
Psychologists believe that when a man and a woman fall in love, their brains will be covered with a substance called phenylethylamine, which will produce a good mood; And chocolate just contains this substance, so it can make people feel romantic.
In addition, scientists believe that people, especially women, like to eat chocolate, mainly because chocolate can improve the level of a chemical called "Celetone" in the brain. It can bring people a sense of peace and better ability to cope with tension, and play a role in relieving stress.
Chocolate is good for the heart.
In addition to improving mental state, in recent years, scientists have begun to pay attention to the preventive effect of chocolate. Recently, a paper published in the American Medical Journal said that chocolate, especially dark chocolate, contains a natural antioxidant flavonoid, which can prevent arteriosclerosis, increase myocardial vitality, relax muscles, and prevent cholesterol from accumulating in blood vessels, and has a certain effect on the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
In fact, this is not the first time that scientists have proposed the preventive effect of chocolate. Greece and Germany have similar studies. Last September, the authoritative British medical journal The Lancet published an American research report, pointing out that chocolate can prevent heart disease. Andrew Waterhouse of the University of California also found that dark chocolate, like red wine, fruits and vegetables, contains phenols (flavonoids are one of them), which can kill damaged cells that cause cancer and heart disease. Japanese research also shows that phenolic compounds extracted from chocolate can improve blood immunity.
Not long ago, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers at the University of L 'Aquila in Italy conducted an experiment: 15 healthy people were asked to eat100g of dark chocolate every day for 15 days. The results showed that their blood pressure decreased and their sensitivity to insulin increased. However, after volunteers ate100g of white chocolate every day for 15 days, they did not get such an effect. Therefore, doctors estimate that dark chocolate may be helpful to diabetics.
In addition, Dr. Crowe from university of westminster, London, found that chocolate can prevent colds. He pointed out that the smell of chocolate can make men's immune system produce an antibody called "immunoglobulin A", which can deal with various "small problems" in the body, such as colds.
In addition to these tangible health care and disease prevention effects, scientists also pointed out that chocolate also contains a variety of nutrients, such as vitamin E and magnesium, which have antioxidant effects; Lecithin necessary for human body, such as potassium, iron and tannic acid, is beneficial to children's brain development; Nuts and milk chocolate also add some other nutrients. In addition, cocoa beans, the raw material of chocolate, contain a lot of flavanols, which also have the function of health care and disease prevention.
In the research of scientists, some "hazards" of chocolate have also been clarified. Studies have found that the fat in chocolate does not affect cholesterol levels. After eating cocoa butter or pure chocolate for one month, the cholesterol index of people with normal cholesterol did not increase. In addition, research also shows that chocolate will not cause acne and acne, nor will it cause dental caries.
Experts suggest eating more dark chocolate.
In recent years, due to the deepening and updating of the understanding and publicity of chocolate, the consumption of chocolate has increased greatly in Europe and other places. In France, the output of chocolate has increased by 33% since 10, reaching 400,000 tons.
While people pay more attention to chocolate, dark chocolate begins to play the leading role. One reason is that the health care function of chocolate is particularly "outstanding"; Another reason is that dark chocolate is one of the chocolates with the lowest sugar content and fat content. In France, 8 1% people choose dark chocolate as the first choice to buy chocolate. Last year, because the media reported the health function of dark chocolate one after another, there were even scenes of snapping up in major shopping malls in Japan.
Although chocolate has many benefits, after all, there is no perfect food in this world. For chocolate, the expert's opinion is still "moderate consumption". Our correspondent in France saw on the website of the French Ministry of Health that the food hygiene announcement used the word "moderate amount" to guide people to eat chocolate. In Paris, Ms. Nora, the owner of a food store called "Cocoa and Chocolate", told reporters that although chocolate is rich in nutrition, it is not low in calories, and it is best to control the daily consumption within100g. Our reporter's friend in Canada, Dr. James, a nutrition and healthy food expert, also holds the same view. He thinks that chocolate has a high sugar content, and obese people should eat less. The average person's daily intake should not exceed100g. Some experts believe that chocolate is not balanced in nutrients, which is easy to produce satiety and affects normal diet. Children should not eat more. Adults who eat too much chocolate may also have "chocolate syndrome" such as anorexia, nausea, weakness and poor resistance.