Chocolate, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Part IV)

Let's take a further examination into the supposed benefits of chocolate.

Calories and Weight Gain
Premium grade dark chocolate contains only cocoa butter, a fat that naturally occurs in cocoa beans. It is made up of stearic acid (34%), oleic acid (34%), palmitic acid (25), and other acids. The combined effect of all the fats found in cocoa butter is rather neutral in regard to an individuals lipid profile. Although when lower grade chocolate or milk chocolate is consumed, part of the total fat content of chocolate comes from milk fat or other types of fat, which do adversely affect cholesterol levels.

It has been noted that cocoa does not raise LDL cholesterol but dark chocolate is a very calorie-dense food. Regular consumption will add many extra calories to the daily total. It will affect those who have to watch their calorie intake. One more consideration is that sugar is listed as the #1 ingredient in many, many chocolate products. When considering overall health, sugar, without question has more negative effects than the fat content of chocolate. Sugar is a well known contributor to heart disease, insulin and blood sugar disorder, immune system issues, moodiness, leukemia, dental problems, yeast infections, etc.

In part 3 of this series we will continue looking further at the proclaimed benefits of chocolate, stay tuned.

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Tom Thorne

www.FeelingOutstanding.com

Chocolate, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Part II)

The first thing a person that needs to done when reading a study is to consider the source. Who conducted the study? If a motorcycle manufacturer conducted an exclusive study on quality of motorcycles would you not expect their respective brand to be at the top? Similarly, who conducted all of the studies on the benefits of chocolate? Taking a closer look, it can be discovered that once the studies funded by chocolate interest groups were discarded, the ones left offered conflicting results.

It must be mentioned though, that some isolated compounds in cocoa did show certain health benefits. If people were to consume pure cocoa, they might be able to enjoy some health benefits such as a positive effect on blood pressure and glucose metabolism. The issue is that the majority of people eat processed chocolate with all the other less desirable ingredients such as added sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, milk fats/dairy cream, etc.). In many cases the actual cocoa content may very well be less than 20%. With this being the case, the general conclusion that chocolate is healthy is much less persuasive.

In Part 3 of this series we will begin to look at the supposed benefits from a critical thought perspective.

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Have a great 2009
Tom Thorne
http://www.feelingoutstanding.com/

Chocolate and Cocoa -- A Heavenly Delight or Not?

Recently there has been a surge of claims by various companies regarding the health benefits of chocolate and cocoa. If this is true, I am very happy. Chocolate sure tastes good and I haven't had more than a very small sampling in probably 12 years.

This claim deserves attention. In order not to just gloss over the facts I am going to devote a few blogs to this subject. As usual, I will pull no punches. Stay tuned, it will be interesting.

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Have a great week!
Tom Thorne
www.FeelingOutstanding.com