Chocolate!
Chocolate -- Yum! The other day I came across not one, but two articles on the delectable stuff and there is actually good news! Apparently hot cocoa has more disease-fighting antioxidants than tea or red wine, so all you hot cocoa lovers drink up.
Ki Won Lee, Ph.D., who is a food science researcher with Seoul National University in South Korea, and his colleagues performed a complicated chemical analysis of cocoa, black tea, green tea, and red wine. The found that cocoa had the highest levels of antioxidants, twice as high as red wine, and nearly 3 times stronger than green tea.
Lee does point out, "Even though a bar of chocolate exhibits strong antioxidant activity, the health benefits are still controversial because relatively large amounts of saturated fats are present. However, a cup of hot cocoa has a much lower level of saturated fats (0.3g per serving) than a bar of chocolate (8g per 40g bar)." (The study appears in 3 DEC 2003 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)
The second chocolate article I came across while looking for some other information at The Green Guide. You will love this resource! The whole article is very informative. For instance, did you know the two chocolate companies who make up two thirds of the U.S. chocolate market as well as numerous other companies, "sourc[e] some of their cocoa from the Ivory Coast, where forced child labor has been documented on some chocolate plantations?" At the end is a chart showing which companies subscribe to which business practices (organic, shade grown, slavery free, etc.) If you're going to eat chocolate, you'll want to check out this article.
Read it & let me know what you think.
Teri Hayes
Natural Health Coach for Women
Herbs, Supplements and other Tools
Ki Won Lee, Ph.D., who is a food science researcher with Seoul National University in South Korea, and his colleagues performed a complicated chemical analysis of cocoa, black tea, green tea, and red wine. The found that cocoa had the highest levels of antioxidants, twice as high as red wine, and nearly 3 times stronger than green tea.
Lee does point out, "Even though a bar of chocolate exhibits strong antioxidant activity, the health benefits are still controversial because relatively large amounts of saturated fats are present. However, a cup of hot cocoa has a much lower level of saturated fats (0.3g per serving) than a bar of chocolate (8g per 40g bar)." (The study appears in 3 DEC 2003 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry)
The second chocolate article I came across while looking for some other information at The Green Guide. You will love this resource! The whole article is very informative. For instance, did you know the two chocolate companies who make up two thirds of the U.S. chocolate market as well as numerous other companies, "sourc[e] some of their cocoa from the Ivory Coast, where forced child labor has been documented on some chocolate plantations?" At the end is a chart showing which companies subscribe to which business practices (organic, shade grown, slavery free, etc.) If you're going to eat chocolate, you'll want to check out this article.
Read it & let me know what you think.
Teri Hayes
Natural Health Coach for Women
Herbs, Supplements and other Tools
posted by Teri Hayes at 4:23 PM
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