Scientists announce amazing findings
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
S. L. Baker
http://www.naturalnews.com/033463_chocolate_heart_disease.html
(NaturalNews) All regular readers of NaturalNews know that researchers have discovered chocolate (especially the organic, not junked up with additives and sugar type) contains phytochemicals which appear to promote good health. But no one has had much of a clue about the specifics of some of those benefits on the cardiovascular system -- until now. Scientists at the European Society of Cardiology Congress currently underway in Paris just announced that chocolate provides huge protection from heart disease as well as stroke.
That's great news because, despite the billions of dollars spent on mainstream medicine's drugs and surgical interventions, the battle against cardiovascular disease obviously needs some serious help. Currently, the World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that by 2030 nearly 23.6 million people will die yearly from heart disease.
So just imagine the fluttering of hearts in Big Pharma offices if they found a no side effect, easy to produce drug that actually worked to lower the risk of developing heart disease in the first place by almost 40 percent. The demand and profits to be made would be enormous. While there is no such medication, it turns out that eating chocolate regularly appears to accomplish what pills can't.
For a new study, which was just published in the online version of the British Medical Journal, Dr. Oscar Franco and colleagues from the University of Cambridge carried out a large scale investigation of existing research on chocolate. In all, they looked at research involving over 100,000 participants with and without existing heart disease. Then the scientists evaluated the effects of eating chocolate on cardiovascular events including heart attacks and stroke.
For each of seven studies that were analyzed, the research team compared the group with the highest chocolate consumption against the group with the lowest consumption (to minimize bias, they factored in differences in the way each study had been designed). Bottom line: the highest levels of chocolate consumption were associated with an astounding 37 percent reduction in cardiovascular disease and an almost 30 percent reduction in stroke compared with lowest levels of chocolate eating.
The studies did not differentiate between dark or milk chocolate and included consumption of chocolate bars, drinks, biscuits and desserts -- which raises an obvious question not answered by the new research analysis. Would the cardiovascular protection be even more pronounced if the chocolate didn't include extra sugars, unhealthy fats or chemical additives found in many chocolate drinks and candy bars?
The authors of the study did warn their findings need to be interpreted cautiously because commercially available chocolate products are often loaded with calories, so eating too much of these can lead to weight gain and be harmful to health in general. However, in a statement to the media, they concluded that given the health benefits of eating chocolate, "initiatives to reduce the current fat and sugar content in most chocolate products should be explored."
Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chocolate. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Chocolate's Startling Health Benefits
John Robbins
February 22, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/chocolates-startling-heal_b_825978.html
The food police may find this hard to take, but chocolate has gotten a bad rap. People say it causes acne, that you should eat carob instead, that it's junk food. But these accusations are not only undeserved and inaccurate, they falsely incriminate a delicious food that turns out to have profoundly important healing powers.
There is in fact a growing body of credible scientific evidence that chocolate contains a host of heart-healthy and mood-enhancing phytochemicals, with benefits to both body and mind.
For one, chocolate is a plentiful source of antioxidants. These are substances that reduce the ongoing cellular and arterial damage caused by oxidative reactions.
You may have heard of a type of antioxidants called polyphenols. These are protective chemicals found in plant foods such as red wine and green tea. Chocolate, it turns out, is particularly rich in polyphenols. According to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the same antioxidant properties found in red wine that protect against heart disease are also found in comparable quantities in chocolate.
How does chocolate help to prevent heart disease? The oxidation of LDL cholesterol is considered a major factor in the promotion of coronary disease. When this waxy substance oxidizes, it tends to stick to artery walls, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. But chocolate to the rescue! The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
And there's more. One of the causes of atherosclerosis is blood platelets clumping together, a process called aggregation. The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit this clumping, reducing the risks of atherosclerosis.
High blood pressure is a well known risk factor for heart disease. It is also one of the most common causes of kidney failure, and a significant contributor to many kinds of dementia and cognitive impairment. Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate daily can reduce blood pressure in people with mild hypertension.
Why are people with risk factors for heart disease sometimes told to take a baby aspirin every day? The reason is that aspirin thins the blood and reduces the likelihood of clots forming (clots play a key role in many heart attacks and strokes). Research performed at the department of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, found that chocolate thins the blood and performs the same anti-clotting activity as aspirin. "Our work supports the concept that the chronic consumption of cocoa may be associated with improved cardiovascular health," said UC Davis researcher Carl Keen.
How much chocolate would you have to eat to obtain these benefits? Less than you might think. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adding only half an ounce of dark chocolate to an average American diet is enough to increase total antioxidant capacity 4 percent, and lessen oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
Why, then, has chocolate gotten such a bum reputation? It's the ingredients we add to it. Nearly all of the calories in a typical chocolate bar are sugar and fat.
As far as fats go, it's the added fats that are the difficulty, not the natural fat (called cocoa butter) found in chocolate. Cocoa butter is high in saturated fat, so many people assume that it's not good for your cardiovascular system. But most of the saturated fat content in cocoa butter is stearic acid, which numerous studies have shown does not raise blood cholesterol levels. In the human body, it acts much like the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.
Milk chocolate, on the other hand, contains added butterfat which can raise blood cholesterol levels. And it has less antioxidants and other beneficial phytochemicals than dark chocolate.
Does chocolate contribute to acne? Milk chocolate has been shown to do so, but I've never heard of any evidence incriminating dark chocolate.
Dark chocolate is also healthier because it has less added sugar. I'm sure you don't need another lecture on the dangers of excess sugar consumption. But if you want to become obese and dramatically raise your odds of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease, foods high in sugar (including high fructose corn syrup) are just the ticket.
Are chocolate's benefits limited to the health of the body? Hardly. Chocolate has long been renown for its remarkable effects on human mood. We are now beginning to understand why.
Chocolate is the richest known source of a little-known substance called theobromine, a close chemical relative of caffeine. Theobromine, like caffeine, and also like the asthma drug theophylline, belong to the chemical group known as xanthine alkaloids. Chocolate products contain small amounts of caffeine, but not nearly enough to explain the attractions, fascinations, addictions, and effects of chocolate. The mood enhancement produced by chocolate may be primarily due to theobromine.
Chocolate also contains other substances with mood elevating effects. One is phenethylamine, which triggers the release of pleasurable endorphins and potentates the action of dopamine, a neurochemical associated with sexual arousal and pleasure. Phenethylamine is released in the brain when people become infatuated or fall in love.
Another substance found in chocolate is anandamide (from the Sanskrit word "ananda," which means peaceful bliss). A fatty substance that is naturally produced in the brain, anandamide has been isolated from chocolate by pharmacologists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. It binds to the same receptor sites in the brain as cannabinoids -- the psychoactive constituents in marijuana -- and produces feelings of elation and exhilaration. (If this becomes more widely known, will they make chocolate illegal?)
If that weren't enough, chocolate also boosts brain levels of serotonin. Women typically have lower serotonin levels during PMS and menstruation, which may be one reason women typically experience stronger cravings for chocolate at these times in their cycles. People suffering from depression so characteristically have lower serotonin levels that an entire class of anti-depressive medications called serotonin uptake inhibitors (including Prozac, Paxil, and Zooloft) have been developed that raise brain levels of serotonin.
Since I am known as an advocate of healthy eating, I'm often asked about my food indulgences. One of my favorite desserts is a piece of dark organic chocolate, along with a glass of a fine red wine.
I do have a policy, though, to eat only organic and/or fair trade chocolate. This is because of what I have learned about child slavery in the cocoa trade.
May your life be full of healthy pleasures.
John Robbins is the author of many bestsellers including "The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World," the classic "Diet For A New America," and "The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less." He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and Green America's Lifetime Achievement Award. To learn more about his work, visit http://www.johnrobbins.info/
February 22, 2011
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/chocolates-startling-heal_b_825978.html
The food police may find this hard to take, but chocolate has gotten a bad rap. People say it causes acne, that you should eat carob instead, that it's junk food. But these accusations are not only undeserved and inaccurate, they falsely incriminate a delicious food that turns out to have profoundly important healing powers.
There is in fact a growing body of credible scientific evidence that chocolate contains a host of heart-healthy and mood-enhancing phytochemicals, with benefits to both body and mind.
For one, chocolate is a plentiful source of antioxidants. These are substances that reduce the ongoing cellular and arterial damage caused by oxidative reactions.
You may have heard of a type of antioxidants called polyphenols. These are protective chemicals found in plant foods such as red wine and green tea. Chocolate, it turns out, is particularly rich in polyphenols. According to researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, the same antioxidant properties found in red wine that protect against heart disease are also found in comparable quantities in chocolate.
How does chocolate help to prevent heart disease? The oxidation of LDL cholesterol is considered a major factor in the promotion of coronary disease. When this waxy substance oxidizes, it tends to stick to artery walls, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke. But chocolate to the rescue! The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
And there's more. One of the causes of atherosclerosis is blood platelets clumping together, a process called aggregation. The polyphenols in chocolate inhibit this clumping, reducing the risks of atherosclerosis.
High blood pressure is a well known risk factor for heart disease. It is also one of the most common causes of kidney failure, and a significant contributor to many kinds of dementia and cognitive impairment. Studies have shown that consuming a small bar of dark chocolate daily can reduce blood pressure in people with mild hypertension.
Why are people with risk factors for heart disease sometimes told to take a baby aspirin every day? The reason is that aspirin thins the blood and reduces the likelihood of clots forming (clots play a key role in many heart attacks and strokes). Research performed at the department of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, found that chocolate thins the blood and performs the same anti-clotting activity as aspirin. "Our work supports the concept that the chronic consumption of cocoa may be associated with improved cardiovascular health," said UC Davis researcher Carl Keen.
How much chocolate would you have to eat to obtain these benefits? Less than you might think. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, adding only half an ounce of dark chocolate to an average American diet is enough to increase total antioxidant capacity 4 percent, and lessen oxidation of LDL cholesterol.
Why, then, has chocolate gotten such a bum reputation? It's the ingredients we add to it. Nearly all of the calories in a typical chocolate bar are sugar and fat.
As far as fats go, it's the added fats that are the difficulty, not the natural fat (called cocoa butter) found in chocolate. Cocoa butter is high in saturated fat, so many people assume that it's not good for your cardiovascular system. But most of the saturated fat content in cocoa butter is stearic acid, which numerous studies have shown does not raise blood cholesterol levels. In the human body, it acts much like the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.
Milk chocolate, on the other hand, contains added butterfat which can raise blood cholesterol levels. And it has less antioxidants and other beneficial phytochemicals than dark chocolate.
Does chocolate contribute to acne? Milk chocolate has been shown to do so, but I've never heard of any evidence incriminating dark chocolate.
Dark chocolate is also healthier because it has less added sugar. I'm sure you don't need another lecture on the dangers of excess sugar consumption. But if you want to become obese and dramatically raise your odds of developing diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's disease, foods high in sugar (including high fructose corn syrup) are just the ticket.
Are chocolate's benefits limited to the health of the body? Hardly. Chocolate has long been renown for its remarkable effects on human mood. We are now beginning to understand why.
Chocolate is the richest known source of a little-known substance called theobromine, a close chemical relative of caffeine. Theobromine, like caffeine, and also like the asthma drug theophylline, belong to the chemical group known as xanthine alkaloids. Chocolate products contain small amounts of caffeine, but not nearly enough to explain the attractions, fascinations, addictions, and effects of chocolate. The mood enhancement produced by chocolate may be primarily due to theobromine.
Chocolate also contains other substances with mood elevating effects. One is phenethylamine, which triggers the release of pleasurable endorphins and potentates the action of dopamine, a neurochemical associated with sexual arousal and pleasure. Phenethylamine is released in the brain when people become infatuated or fall in love.
Another substance found in chocolate is anandamide (from the Sanskrit word "ananda," which means peaceful bliss). A fatty substance that is naturally produced in the brain, anandamide has been isolated from chocolate by pharmacologists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego. It binds to the same receptor sites in the brain as cannabinoids -- the psychoactive constituents in marijuana -- and produces feelings of elation and exhilaration. (If this becomes more widely known, will they make chocolate illegal?)
If that weren't enough, chocolate also boosts brain levels of serotonin. Women typically have lower serotonin levels during PMS and menstruation, which may be one reason women typically experience stronger cravings for chocolate at these times in their cycles. People suffering from depression so characteristically have lower serotonin levels that an entire class of anti-depressive medications called serotonin uptake inhibitors (including Prozac, Paxil, and Zooloft) have been developed that raise brain levels of serotonin.
Since I am known as an advocate of healthy eating, I'm often asked about my food indulgences. One of my favorite desserts is a piece of dark organic chocolate, along with a glass of a fine red wine.
I do have a policy, though, to eat only organic and/or fair trade chocolate. This is because of what I have learned about child slavery in the cocoa trade.
May your life be full of healthy pleasures.
John Robbins is the author of many bestsellers including "The Food Revolution: How Your Diet Can Help Save Your Life and Our World," the classic "Diet For A New America," and "The New Good Life: Living Better Than Ever in an Age of Less." He is the recipient of the Rachel Carson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award, the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award, and Green America's Lifetime Achievement Award. To learn more about his work, visit http://www.johnrobbins.info/
Friday, November 26, 2010
Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health-news/2010/11/15/scientists-working-to-create-genetically-modified-chocolate-to-make-you-healthy-86908-22718591/
Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate - to make you healthy
Nov 15 2010
Janice Burns
FORGET penicillin, space travel and the silicon chip. Science is on the verge of its greatest discovery - chocolate that's good for you.
DNA experts are working with sweet giants Mars to create genetically modified chocolate that fights heart disease and diabetes and won't make you fat.
They've already been at it for two years. And they claim that in another five, they could unlock the secret of how to make chocolate healthy.
The scientists say the secret lies in the genetic code of the cocoa bean.
The beans contain chemicals called flavonols which lower blood pressure and help keep the heart healthy.
And the scientists believe they can change the DNA of the cocoa tree so it produces beans with far higher levels of flavonols.
They also hope to produce beans that fight diabetes, as well as making the fat in cocoa much healthier.
Dr Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and research at Mars, said: "The idea is that this is something that will become the norm - healthy fats, high levels of flavonols.
"Chocolate will become something quite different in 10, 15, 20 years, and we are on that track now.
"It is not something we can deliver tomorrow, but maybe in five years we can."
Dr Shapiro, who is also a professor at the University of California, got £6million from Mars to fund the cocoa DNA project.
Computer giants IBM, who analyse the data, and the US Department of Agriculture are also involved.
It took two years to disentangle the cocoa tree's 420 million units of DNA.
Dr Shapiro and his team are now checking all 34,997 of the tree's genes in a bid to find the ones that will help them make healthy chocolate.
Let's hope they finish their work soon. Then they can move on to chips, crisps, curries and pies.
Scientists working to create genetically modified chocolate - to make you healthy
Nov 15 2010
Janice Burns
FORGET penicillin, space travel and the silicon chip. Science is on the verge of its greatest discovery - chocolate that's good for you.
DNA experts are working with sweet giants Mars to create genetically modified chocolate that fights heart disease and diabetes and won't make you fat.
They've already been at it for two years. And they claim that in another five, they could unlock the secret of how to make chocolate healthy.
The scientists say the secret lies in the genetic code of the cocoa bean.
The beans contain chemicals called flavonols which lower blood pressure and help keep the heart healthy.
And the scientists believe they can change the DNA of the cocoa tree so it produces beans with far higher levels of flavonols.
They also hope to produce beans that fight diabetes, as well as making the fat in cocoa much healthier.
Dr Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and research at Mars, said: "The idea is that this is something that will become the norm - healthy fats, high levels of flavonols.
"Chocolate will become something quite different in 10, 15, 20 years, and we are on that track now.
"It is not something we can deliver tomorrow, but maybe in five years we can."
Dr Shapiro, who is also a professor at the University of California, got £6million from Mars to fund the cocoa DNA project.
Computer giants IBM, who analyse the data, and the US Department of Agriculture are also involved.
It took two years to disentangle the cocoa tree's 420 million units of DNA.
Dr Shapiro and his team are now checking all 34,997 of the tree's genes in a bid to find the ones that will help them make healthy chocolate.
Let's hope they finish their work soon. Then they can move on to chips, crisps, curries and pies.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Heirloom cacao is ancient treasure of chocolate
http://www.naturalnews.com/029628_cacao_chocolate.html
Heirloom cacao is ancient treasure of chocolate from the Ecuadorian rainforest
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) Most people have never eaten real chocolate. Sure, we've all wolfed down plenty of "chocolate" candies, bars and cakes. But as you'll see here, very little of that is actually made from real chocolate. Virtually all the chocolate used in modern foods is derived from a hybridized cacao plant that lacks the phytochemical potency that gives real chocolate its many beneficial properties.
So even though almost everyone has tasted chocolate, very few people have actually experienced true heirloom cacao from the original, phytonutrient-rich plants.
Cacao originated in a region now spanning the border of Ecuador and Colombia. Its plants were discovered thousands of years ago, and the cacao fruit and seeds have been used throughout South American culture for as long as human history can remember.
Heirloom cacao is called Arriba Nacional or just "Arriba" for short. That's the real cacao from Ecuador, harvested from heirloom plants growing just the way they grew thousands of years ago.
In comparison, virtually all the chocolate used in candy bars, chocolate chips, chocolate cakes, breads and so on is derived from the hybridized plant called CCN-51 -- a pale shadow of the heirloom "Arribe Nacional" cacao it was supposed to replace.
Most consumers have no idea the chocolate they've been eating is "watered down" with what is effectively a cheap, weakened cacao substitute. And if you've been eating that watered down chocolate all your life, you're in for a real surprise when you get your hands on "Arribe Nacional" cacao, which has a deeper, more complex and "floral" flavor profile.
My first taste of real chocolate
My first experience of real chocolate was enjoyed in Ecuador, where I lived on and off for two years. One day I drove to a nursery in Zamora, a small city to the East of Loja (in Southern Ecuador). There, we picked fresh cacao pods right off the trees, sliced open the tops and began to eat the cacao fruit.
Yes, cacao trees have fruit. It's a thin layer of sweet fruity flesh surrounding the cacao bean, sort of in the way a lychee fruit has a layer of delicious white fruit flesh surrounding its central seed. Cacao fruit tastes a little bit like fresh lychee fruit, in fact, with a hint of chocolate flavor in it.
Once you eat the fruit, you're left with cacao seed pods. This is where "chocolate" comes from. The seed pods are usually ground into a fine powder, with the oils being mechanically separated from the non-oil substances which are then subjected to a combination of drying, fermentation and cooking (depending on who's doing the processing), creating a finished cacao powder.
This fine cacao powder is what goes into fine chocolates, often sweetened with sugars or enriched with milk fats. Hence the name "Milk chocolate."
However, the higher cost of heirloom chocolate has kept it out of the hands of all but the most selective chocolate artisans. The number of chocolate-making shops in America that use real heirloom cacao in their confections probably numbers less than ten. That's why virtually no one in North America has ever tasted real chocolate before.
How I met the founder of Pacari
In Ecuador, there's a company producing 100% heirloom cacao that's truly raw (never goes above 118 degrees during processing), truly organic and "single origin" meaning it's all from one region and not blended with other cacaos from other countries.
That company is called Pacari, and its founder, Santiago, introduced me to his line of heirloom cacao one evening at a raw foods gathering at Matt Monarch's house in the Valley of Longevity near Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
There, I had the opportunity to taste 100% raw, unsweetened, full-potency heirloom cacao -- and it was a superfood experience that forever changed my perception about just how powerful and even enlightening superfoods can be.
Food of the Gods?
You see, the best-known active ingredient in cacao is a bitter alkaloid called theobromine. The Latin prefix "theo" is of course the same root as in the word "theology," meaning the study of God. Bromine comes from "broma" which, in the variation of "brosi" is Latin for "food."
Theobromine, then, is literally translated into "food of God" or "food of the Gods."
Why would cacao be named "food of the Gods?" If you just eat regular watered-down chocolate, you'll probably never know. To really attain a deeper experience of cacao, you must eat the heirloom variety that's naturally high in theobromine and other alkaloids. And once you do that, your experience may give you a greater understanding of why, over the last several thousand years, the indigenous people of South America have used superfoods like cacao to support their connection on a spiritual level.
In the cultures of South American people, eating heirloom cacao is not merely an act of consuming calories. Nor is it a form of entertainment as is often pursued in first-world countries. Rather, eating heirloom cacao is a way for them to connect with the universe. It is a deeply spiritual experience, to be savored and honored, not to be wolfed down with processed sugar and ice cream.
Throughout the cultures of South America, food was a way in which people were able to gain insight into the universe around them.
I realize it seems odd in our modern cultures to think of food as a source of enlightenment or wisdom, but this idea was pivotal for South American cultures, and it actually makes good sense: Since we become what we eat, to eat the seed pods of a sacred plant is to become one with that plant. Certain plants alter brain chemistry and function, expanding consciousness and inviting us to explore alternate realities before returning to their physical world, blessed with the gift of new experiential insight. Such is the nature of the "sacred plant journeys" also routinely practiced by medicine healers (shamans) of South American cultures.
While cacao is not a psychedelic plant, it is well known as a source of unique antioxidants and bitter alkaloids that may support healthy moods while brightening your day. Maybe this is why this superfood was called the "food of the Gods."
Straight from Ecuador: 100% organic, raw heirloom cacao
Now, after five thousand years of history, YOU can experience Arribe Nacional heirloom cacao straight from the rainforests of Ecuador.
Thanks to our connections in Ecuador, we were able to coordinate with Santiago to receive a large shipment of this unique heirloom cacao, straight from Ecuador.
This is the real stuff: Pure heirloom cacao, truly raw (not just a false claim, but really truly raw), truly organic and harvested with the help of local farmers in a genuinely fair manner that honors their livelihoods. (The Pacari company works in many ways to help support local cacao farmers, and while it's not yet certified as "Fair Trade," they are working in that direction.)
Right now, we have available for immediate shipment from our store:
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Beans
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Paste
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Butter
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Nibs
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Powder
• A combination "chef's pack" of Powder, Nibs, Butter and Paste (regular price is $83.80, but for this article we've marked it down to just $54.72, a nearly 35% savings)
These are all single-source, straight from Ecuador, made 100% of heirloom cacao plants, organic and raw. Just as importantly, this is perhaps the finest cacao you will ever taste in the world. It is one of life's "bucket list" experiences to ingest this plant and tune in to how it is interacting with your body and mind. To miss out on this plant that our world has to offer is to truly miss out on one of life's real gems.
I regret to have to mention this, but not everything described as "Arribe" in the cacao world is truly Arribe. Some cacao producers will blend a small amount of Arribe into a batch of largely hybridized CCN-51 cacao, then they'll label the final product "Arribe" cacao. That's like calling your salad dressing "Olive Oil Dressing" when it's really made from 90% soybean oil and only 10% olive oil.
Our Arribe cacao is 100% truly Arribe with no misleading blending. Additionally, all the products have absolutely no sweeteners, no filler, no preservatives, no GMOs, no soy, no wheat... nothing! Just pure, raw heirloom cacao from Ecuador to you.
As a result, don't expect this to taste like a candy bar. It doesn't! This is not candy. This is a potent superfood in its purest form, unadulterated and uncooked. It is the closest thing you can find to venturing into the Ecuadorian rainforest and harvesting your own wild cacao pods.
This raw cacao is grown in Ecuador, harvested by Ecuadorian farmers, then processed by hand in small batches. It's never cooked! The result is some of the finest cacao you will ever encounter on our planet.
When you get some of this, consider it a treasure. I recommend not feeding it to anyone who isn't enlightened enough to appreciate what they are consuming. Most children, in particular, are expecting sweet "junk" chocolate and will likely not appreciate "Arribe" heirloom cacao.
And if you do give this as a gift to someone, please explain the history of heirloom cacao to them so they understand what a magnificent food treasure they are consuming. This is the stuff of Kings and Queens. Just a few hundred years ago, only ultra-wealthy royalty would have had access to such exotic foods. Today, we can all experience it!
Heirloom cacao is ancient treasure of chocolate from the Ecuadorian rainforest
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com
(NaturalNews) Most people have never eaten real chocolate. Sure, we've all wolfed down plenty of "chocolate" candies, bars and cakes. But as you'll see here, very little of that is actually made from real chocolate. Virtually all the chocolate used in modern foods is derived from a hybridized cacao plant that lacks the phytochemical potency that gives real chocolate its many beneficial properties.
So even though almost everyone has tasted chocolate, very few people have actually experienced true heirloom cacao from the original, phytonutrient-rich plants.
Cacao originated in a region now spanning the border of Ecuador and Colombia. Its plants were discovered thousands of years ago, and the cacao fruit and seeds have been used throughout South American culture for as long as human history can remember.
Heirloom cacao is called Arriba Nacional or just "Arriba" for short. That's the real cacao from Ecuador, harvested from heirloom plants growing just the way they grew thousands of years ago.
In comparison, virtually all the chocolate used in candy bars, chocolate chips, chocolate cakes, breads and so on is derived from the hybridized plant called CCN-51 -- a pale shadow of the heirloom "Arribe Nacional" cacao it was supposed to replace.
Most consumers have no idea the chocolate they've been eating is "watered down" with what is effectively a cheap, weakened cacao substitute. And if you've been eating that watered down chocolate all your life, you're in for a real surprise when you get your hands on "Arribe Nacional" cacao, which has a deeper, more complex and "floral" flavor profile.
My first taste of real chocolate
My first experience of real chocolate was enjoyed in Ecuador, where I lived on and off for two years. One day I drove to a nursery in Zamora, a small city to the East of Loja (in Southern Ecuador). There, we picked fresh cacao pods right off the trees, sliced open the tops and began to eat the cacao fruit.
Yes, cacao trees have fruit. It's a thin layer of sweet fruity flesh surrounding the cacao bean, sort of in the way a lychee fruit has a layer of delicious white fruit flesh surrounding its central seed. Cacao fruit tastes a little bit like fresh lychee fruit, in fact, with a hint of chocolate flavor in it.
Once you eat the fruit, you're left with cacao seed pods. This is where "chocolate" comes from. The seed pods are usually ground into a fine powder, with the oils being mechanically separated from the non-oil substances which are then subjected to a combination of drying, fermentation and cooking (depending on who's doing the processing), creating a finished cacao powder.
This fine cacao powder is what goes into fine chocolates, often sweetened with sugars or enriched with milk fats. Hence the name "Milk chocolate."
However, the higher cost of heirloom chocolate has kept it out of the hands of all but the most selective chocolate artisans. The number of chocolate-making shops in America that use real heirloom cacao in their confections probably numbers less than ten. That's why virtually no one in North America has ever tasted real chocolate before.
How I met the founder of Pacari
In Ecuador, there's a company producing 100% heirloom cacao that's truly raw (never goes above 118 degrees during processing), truly organic and "single origin" meaning it's all from one region and not blended with other cacaos from other countries.
That company is called Pacari, and its founder, Santiago, introduced me to his line of heirloom cacao one evening at a raw foods gathering at Matt Monarch's house in the Valley of Longevity near Vilcabamba, Ecuador.
There, I had the opportunity to taste 100% raw, unsweetened, full-potency heirloom cacao -- and it was a superfood experience that forever changed my perception about just how powerful and even enlightening superfoods can be.
Food of the Gods?
You see, the best-known active ingredient in cacao is a bitter alkaloid called theobromine. The Latin prefix "theo" is of course the same root as in the word "theology," meaning the study of God. Bromine comes from "broma" which, in the variation of "brosi" is Latin for "food."
Theobromine, then, is literally translated into "food of God" or "food of the Gods."
Why would cacao be named "food of the Gods?" If you just eat regular watered-down chocolate, you'll probably never know. To really attain a deeper experience of cacao, you must eat the heirloom variety that's naturally high in theobromine and other alkaloids. And once you do that, your experience may give you a greater understanding of why, over the last several thousand years, the indigenous people of South America have used superfoods like cacao to support their connection on a spiritual level.
In the cultures of South American people, eating heirloom cacao is not merely an act of consuming calories. Nor is it a form of entertainment as is often pursued in first-world countries. Rather, eating heirloom cacao is a way for them to connect with the universe. It is a deeply spiritual experience, to be savored and honored, not to be wolfed down with processed sugar and ice cream.
Throughout the cultures of South America, food was a way in which people were able to gain insight into the universe around them.
I realize it seems odd in our modern cultures to think of food as a source of enlightenment or wisdom, but this idea was pivotal for South American cultures, and it actually makes good sense: Since we become what we eat, to eat the seed pods of a sacred plant is to become one with that plant. Certain plants alter brain chemistry and function, expanding consciousness and inviting us to explore alternate realities before returning to their physical world, blessed with the gift of new experiential insight. Such is the nature of the "sacred plant journeys" also routinely practiced by medicine healers (shamans) of South American cultures.
While cacao is not a psychedelic plant, it is well known as a source of unique antioxidants and bitter alkaloids that may support healthy moods while brightening your day. Maybe this is why this superfood was called the "food of the Gods."
Straight from Ecuador: 100% organic, raw heirloom cacao
Now, after five thousand years of history, YOU can experience Arribe Nacional heirloom cacao straight from the rainforests of Ecuador.
Thanks to our connections in Ecuador, we were able to coordinate with Santiago to receive a large shipment of this unique heirloom cacao, straight from Ecuador.
This is the real stuff: Pure heirloom cacao, truly raw (not just a false claim, but really truly raw), truly organic and harvested with the help of local farmers in a genuinely fair manner that honors their livelihoods. (The Pacari company works in many ways to help support local cacao farmers, and while it's not yet certified as "Fair Trade," they are working in that direction.)
Right now, we have available for immediate shipment from our store:
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Beans
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Paste
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Butter
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Nibs
• Raw "Arribe" Cacao Powder
• A combination "chef's pack" of Powder, Nibs, Butter and Paste (regular price is $83.80, but for this article we've marked it down to just $54.72, a nearly 35% savings)
These are all single-source, straight from Ecuador, made 100% of heirloom cacao plants, organic and raw. Just as importantly, this is perhaps the finest cacao you will ever taste in the world. It is one of life's "bucket list" experiences to ingest this plant and tune in to how it is interacting with your body and mind. To miss out on this plant that our world has to offer is to truly miss out on one of life's real gems.
I regret to have to mention this, but not everything described as "Arribe" in the cacao world is truly Arribe. Some cacao producers will blend a small amount of Arribe into a batch of largely hybridized CCN-51 cacao, then they'll label the final product "Arribe" cacao. That's like calling your salad dressing "Olive Oil Dressing" when it's really made from 90% soybean oil and only 10% olive oil.
Our Arribe cacao is 100% truly Arribe with no misleading blending. Additionally, all the products have absolutely no sweeteners, no filler, no preservatives, no GMOs, no soy, no wheat... nothing! Just pure, raw heirloom cacao from Ecuador to you.
As a result, don't expect this to taste like a candy bar. It doesn't! This is not candy. This is a potent superfood in its purest form, unadulterated and uncooked. It is the closest thing you can find to venturing into the Ecuadorian rainforest and harvesting your own wild cacao pods.
This raw cacao is grown in Ecuador, harvested by Ecuadorian farmers, then processed by hand in small batches. It's never cooked! The result is some of the finest cacao you will ever encounter on our planet.
When you get some of this, consider it a treasure. I recommend not feeding it to anyone who isn't enlightened enough to appreciate what they are consuming. Most children, in particular, are expecting sweet "junk" chocolate and will likely not appreciate "Arribe" heirloom cacao.
And if you do give this as a gift to someone, please explain the history of heirloom cacao to them so they understand what a magnificent food treasure they are consuming. This is the stuff of Kings and Queens. Just a few hundred years ago, only ultra-wealthy royalty would have had access to such exotic foods. Today, we can all experience it!
Friday, July 30, 2010
British financier Anthony Ward behind £658m cocoa trade
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7897075/British-financier-Anthony-Ward-behind-658m-cocoa-trade.html
British financier Anthony Ward behind £658m cocoa trade
A British financier is behind a £658 million cocoa trade which single-handedly moved the global cocoa market.
Laura Roberts
18 Jul 2010
Anthony Ward, 50, bought 241,000 tons of cocoa beans and now owns enough to manufacture 5.3 billion quarter-pound chocolate bars.
Mr Ward, who is worth around £36 million, holds so much of the market he could force manufacturers to raise the price of Britain's favourite chocolate bars.
The transaction, the largest single cocoa trade in 14 years, was carried out last Friday by Armajaro Holdings, a hedge fund co-founded by Mr Ward.
The businessman began his career as a motorcycle dispatch rider before becoming a commodities trader specialising in cocoa and coffee.
The former Chairman of the European Cocoa Association has amassed up to 15 per cent of the word's cocoa stocks in the last ten years.
Mr Ward, who has an annual director's salary of £3.4 million, lives in Mayfair in London with his wife Carolyn. Outside of work he is known to be a passionate rally driver and lover of fine food and wines.
The cocoa beans from his latest trade are expected to be kept in warehouses in The Netherlands, Hamburg, London, Liverpool or Humberside and are the equivalent of the entire supply of the commodity in Europe.
Cocoa prices rose by 0.7 per cent as a result of the trade to £2,732 per metric tonne – the highest price for cocoa in Europe since 1977. It follows a series of weak harvests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the main areas where the crop is grown.
In 2002 Mr Ward made £40 million in two months after making a similar deal. He bought 204,000 tones of cocoa when West Africa was experiencing poor harvests and political instability in the equatorial area.
He then watched the price of cocoa increase from £1,400 a ton to £1,600 a ton.
Cocoa prices have more than doubled since 2007, following increased demand particularly from China and India, forcing chocolate makers to raise prices and in some cases to change recipes to use less cocoa.
Mr Ward was not available for comment.
British financier Anthony Ward behind £658m cocoa trade
A British financier is behind a £658 million cocoa trade which single-handedly moved the global cocoa market.
Laura Roberts
18 Jul 2010
Anthony Ward, 50, bought 241,000 tons of cocoa beans and now owns enough to manufacture 5.3 billion quarter-pound chocolate bars.
Mr Ward, who is worth around £36 million, holds so much of the market he could force manufacturers to raise the price of Britain's favourite chocolate bars.
The transaction, the largest single cocoa trade in 14 years, was carried out last Friday by Armajaro Holdings, a hedge fund co-founded by Mr Ward.
The businessman began his career as a motorcycle dispatch rider before becoming a commodities trader specialising in cocoa and coffee.
The former Chairman of the European Cocoa Association has amassed up to 15 per cent of the word's cocoa stocks in the last ten years.
Mr Ward, who has an annual director's salary of £3.4 million, lives in Mayfair in London with his wife Carolyn. Outside of work he is known to be a passionate rally driver and lover of fine food and wines.
The cocoa beans from his latest trade are expected to be kept in warehouses in The Netherlands, Hamburg, London, Liverpool or Humberside and are the equivalent of the entire supply of the commodity in Europe.
Cocoa prices rose by 0.7 per cent as a result of the trade to £2,732 per metric tonne – the highest price for cocoa in Europe since 1977. It follows a series of weak harvests in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the main areas where the crop is grown.
In 2002 Mr Ward made £40 million in two months after making a similar deal. He bought 204,000 tones of cocoa when West Africa was experiencing poor harvests and political instability in the equatorial area.
He then watched the price of cocoa increase from £1,400 a ton to £1,600 a ton.
Cocoa prices have more than doubled since 2007, following increased demand particularly from China and India, forcing chocolate makers to raise prices and in some cases to change recipes to use less cocoa.
Mr Ward was not available for comment.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Raw Cacao: Turn Chocolate Cravings into Super Nutrition
http://www.naturalnews.com/029156_cacao_chocolate.html
Raw Cacao: Turn Chocolate Cravings into Super Nutrition
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Heidi Fagley, citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) One of the most craved, savored, and sought after foods worldwide can also benefit the body in extraordinary ways. Cacao, cocoa, chocolate - no matter how you say it, humans around the globe seek the mouth-watering pleasure and mood-boosting effects of this extraordinary antioxidant.
Cocoa beans are the seed of the fruit tree, Theobroma cacao that grows in the shades of the rainforest between 15-20 degrees North and South of the Equator. All chocolate is made from cacao (pronounced cuh-COW), the edible part of the cocoa bean after it has been harvested, dried, fermented, and hulled. These beans have some of the most valuable nutrients available to us.
Nicknamed "black gold" by the Spanish, the bean-shaped pod is a food that has also been considered a highly beneficial medicine because it contains over 300 identifiable chemical compounds. Unfortunately, many of those properties are destroyed by cooking, processing, and refining. Studies have shown that dairy products actually block the absorption of antioxidants in chocolate. Yet most commercially produced candy and chocolate bars contain low levels of cacao bean compared to other ingredients such as sugars, milk fat, hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavorings.
In comparison by weight, cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than blueberries, red wine, or black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea. The Aztecs called the cacao "yollotl eztli," which literally means "heart blood;" they understood the benefit this truly powerful superfood has on the cardiovascular system.
Pure, raw cacao also has extraordinary potential for helping to support weight loss - quite the opposite from the everyday chocolate bar!
That certain "euphoria" you may feel after consuming your favorite raw cacao treat isn't in your minds! Chocolate has actual compounds with the unique ability to satiate our appetite for pleasure like no other substance.
By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao can help promote a positive outlook, facilitate rejuvenation, and simply lift our spirits:
- Serotonin - Cacao raises the level of serotonin in the brain and therefore acts as an anti-depressant, promoting an overall sense of well-being.
-Endorphins - These are our natural pain and stress chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Cacao stimulates the secretion of endorphins, which can help to produce a pleasurable feeling.
- Phenylethylamine (PEAs) - PEAs are a natural chemical compound that are also created within the brain and released when we are in love. It acts as a mild mood elevator and an anti-depressant, and it helps increase focus and alertness.
- Anandamide - Anandamide is known as the "bliss chemical" because it is released by the brain when we are feeling happy. Cacao contains both N-acylethanolamines that are believed to temporarily increase the levels of anandamide in the brain and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown. This promotes relaxation for a longer period of time.
As with anything, you can overdo it! The key is to eat minimally processed raw cacao in small amounts - just enough to receive the health-boosting qualities and satisfy those chocolate cravings.
Delicious Cacao Smoothie
2 Frozen Bananas (remove skin, cut into medium size pieces and freeze)
2 Tablespoons Organic Cacao Powder
1 1/2 Cups Almond Milk - more or less, depending on desired thickness
Your choice of sweetener, if desired
A few Goji Berries and/or a Tablespoon of Maca Powder can also be a healthy, delicious combination
Blend all ingredients on high until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!
Raw Cacao: Turn Chocolate Cravings into Super Nutrition
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Heidi Fagley, citizen journalist
(NaturalNews) One of the most craved, savored, and sought after foods worldwide can also benefit the body in extraordinary ways. Cacao, cocoa, chocolate - no matter how you say it, humans around the globe seek the mouth-watering pleasure and mood-boosting effects of this extraordinary antioxidant.
Cocoa beans are the seed of the fruit tree, Theobroma cacao that grows in the shades of the rainforest between 15-20 degrees North and South of the Equator. All chocolate is made from cacao (pronounced cuh-COW), the edible part of the cocoa bean after it has been harvested, dried, fermented, and hulled. These beans have some of the most valuable nutrients available to us.
Nicknamed "black gold" by the Spanish, the bean-shaped pod is a food that has also been considered a highly beneficial medicine because it contains over 300 identifiable chemical compounds. Unfortunately, many of those properties are destroyed by cooking, processing, and refining. Studies have shown that dairy products actually block the absorption of antioxidants in chocolate. Yet most commercially produced candy and chocolate bars contain low levels of cacao bean compared to other ingredients such as sugars, milk fat, hydrogenated oils, and artificial flavorings.
In comparison by weight, cacao has more antioxidant flavonoids than blueberries, red wine, or black and green teas. In fact, it has up to four times the quantity of antioxidants found in green tea. The Aztecs called the cacao "yollotl eztli," which literally means "heart blood;" they understood the benefit this truly powerful superfood has on the cardiovascular system.
Pure, raw cacao also has extraordinary potential for helping to support weight loss - quite the opposite from the everyday chocolate bar!
That certain "euphoria" you may feel after consuming your favorite raw cacao treat isn't in your minds! Chocolate has actual compounds with the unique ability to satiate our appetite for pleasure like no other substance.
By increasing the levels of specific neurotransmitters in our brains, cacao can help promote a positive outlook, facilitate rejuvenation, and simply lift our spirits:
- Serotonin - Cacao raises the level of serotonin in the brain and therefore acts as an anti-depressant, promoting an overall sense of well-being.
-Endorphins - These are our natural pain and stress chemicals known as neurotransmitters. Cacao stimulates the secretion of endorphins, which can help to produce a pleasurable feeling.
- Phenylethylamine (PEAs) - PEAs are a natural chemical compound that are also created within the brain and released when we are in love. It acts as a mild mood elevator and an anti-depressant, and it helps increase focus and alertness.
- Anandamide - Anandamide is known as the "bliss chemical" because it is released by the brain when we are feeling happy. Cacao contains both N-acylethanolamines that are believed to temporarily increase the levels of anandamide in the brain and enzyme inhibitors that slow its breakdown. This promotes relaxation for a longer period of time.
As with anything, you can overdo it! The key is to eat minimally processed raw cacao in small amounts - just enough to receive the health-boosting qualities and satisfy those chocolate cravings.
Delicious Cacao Smoothie
2 Frozen Bananas (remove skin, cut into medium size pieces and freeze)
2 Tablespoons Organic Cacao Powder
1 1/2 Cups Almond Milk - more or less, depending on desired thickness
Your choice of sweetener, if desired
A few Goji Berries and/or a Tablespoon of Maca Powder can also be a healthy, delicious combination
Blend all ingredients on high until smooth and creamy. Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
First Chocoholics in U.S. Found in New Mexico?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090202-ancient-chocolate.html
First Chocoholics in U.S. Found in New Mexico?
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
February 2, 2009
Chocolate lovers are a dedicated bunch.
Hershey's sales and profits rose even in the brutal final quarter of 2008, and a thousand years ago ancient Americans may have walked hundreds of miles to procure the bittersweet stuff, a new study suggests.
The discovery suggests a vast trade network helped deliver chocolate from Central America, where the seeds of the cacao tree were first transformed into beverages some 3,000 years ago.
"That's a long way to go for something that you don't need for survival, [something] that's more of a delicacy," said Patricia Crown, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico and co-author of the new study, which appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Have Chocolate, Will Travel
The closest cacao source may have been 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away, Crown said.
"It suggests that the only way for this material to get [to New Mexico] is [that] either people from Chaco walked down to get it, or it was traded hand to hand from Mesoamerica to Chaco, or people from Mesoamerica came up and traded it," she said.
"There are a lot of questions about how that exchange worked. But once you had that connection and had tasted chocolate, you probably wanted to keep that exchange going, whatever the mechanism."
Crown and co-author Jeffrey Hurst, a biochemist at the Hershey Foods Technical Center, found traces of theobromine—a compound that is the principal base of cacao beans and chocolate—on pottery shards.
The pottery had originally been excavated from trash mounds at Pueblo Bonito, an ancient residential complex in Chaco Canyon, during National Geographic Society-sponsored work in the 1920s and then dug up again in 2007. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)
Many pottery samples in museums around the United States could someday yield evidence of additional cacao use and perhaps an even wider trade network for chocolate, Crown said.
Louis Grivetti, professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage, said the study confirms previous evidence of trade between Central America and Mexico and "changes all the chronologies regarding cacao use in the Americas."
"It's one of the most exciting reports on the history of chocolate of the past 10 to 15 years," he said.
First Chocoholics in U.S. Found in New Mexico?
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
February 2, 2009
Chocolate lovers are a dedicated bunch.
Hershey's sales and profits rose even in the brutal final quarter of 2008, and a thousand years ago ancient Americans may have walked hundreds of miles to procure the bittersweet stuff, a new study suggests.
The discovery suggests a vast trade network helped deliver chocolate from Central America, where the seeds of the cacao tree were first transformed into beverages some 3,000 years ago.
"That's a long way to go for something that you don't need for survival, [something] that's more of a delicacy," said Patricia Crown, an anthropologist at the University of New Mexico and co-author of the new study, which appears in tomorrow's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.
Have Chocolate, Will Travel
The closest cacao source may have been 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) away, Crown said.
"It suggests that the only way for this material to get [to New Mexico] is [that] either people from Chaco walked down to get it, or it was traded hand to hand from Mesoamerica to Chaco, or people from Mesoamerica came up and traded it," she said.
"There are a lot of questions about how that exchange worked. But once you had that connection and had tasted chocolate, you probably wanted to keep that exchange going, whatever the mechanism."
Crown and co-author Jeffrey Hurst, a biochemist at the Hershey Foods Technical Center, found traces of theobromine—a compound that is the principal base of cacao beans and chocolate—on pottery shards.
The pottery had originally been excavated from trash mounds at Pueblo Bonito, an ancient residential complex in Chaco Canyon, during National Geographic Society-sponsored work in the 1920s and then dug up again in 2007. (National Geographic News is owned by the National Geographic Society.)
Many pottery samples in museums around the United States could someday yield evidence of additional cacao use and perhaps an even wider trade network for chocolate, Crown said.
Louis Grivetti, professor of nutrition at the University of California, Davis, and co-author of Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage, said the study confirms previous evidence of trade between Central America and Mexico and "changes all the chronologies regarding cacao use in the Americas."
"It's one of the most exciting reports on the history of chocolate of the past 10 to 15 years," he said.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Love of Chocolate Begun With Cacao Beer?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/science/13obchoc.html
November 13, 2007
Observatory
Love of Chocolate May Have Begun With Cacao Beer
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
The ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America loved to drink chocolate. But their beverage was nothing like the modern one — it was a frothy, bitter brew of fermented, roasted and ground cacao seeds, often spiced with chile peppers, more like mole poblano than Swiss Miss.
New archaeological findings by John S. Henderson of Cornell and Rosemary A. Joyce of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues push the date of the first use of cacao back to about 1100 B.C., 500 years earlier than previously known. What’s more, the researchers suggest that this early beverage was something different again — a fermented beer made from cacao pulp, not seeds.
Dr. Henderson and Dr. Joyce have been digging for years at Puerto Escondido, a village in the Ulúa Valley in what is now Honduras. They have found elegant pots, cups and other pieces of pottery and have developed a theory that the pottery was probably used on ceremonial occasions to serve cacao beverages. “Cacao was the social grease of Mesoamerica,” Dr. Henderson said.
But this theory was based only on circumstantial evidence, he added. “We were thinking we didn’t have much potential for chemical confirmation.”
Previously it was possible to detect evidence of cacao — the compounds theobromine and caffeine — only from visible residues in intact pots. But using just pottery fragments, the researchers were able to detect the compounds from residues absorbed by the clay. The findings were reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Henderson said other evidence suggested that the pottery was used for an alcoholic beverage. Most of the vessels from that time only had a narrow spout, which would be good for pouring but not for frothing up a seed-based beverage. For that, a wider mouth would be needed, and wide-mouthed vessels are not found at Puerto Escondido for several hundred years.
Dr. Henderson suggested that the Mesoamericans fermented cacao first to make beer, eventually discovering, likely by accident, that the fermented seeds made an even better beverage. If so, he said, the rise of cacao and the eventual birth of the modern chocolate industry — all of which began with the passion for the frothy drink — “would then be an unintended consequence of something different,” he said.
November 13, 2007
Observatory
Love of Chocolate May Have Begun With Cacao Beer
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
The ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America loved to drink chocolate. But their beverage was nothing like the modern one — it was a frothy, bitter brew of fermented, roasted and ground cacao seeds, often spiced with chile peppers, more like mole poblano than Swiss Miss.
New archaeological findings by John S. Henderson of Cornell and Rosemary A. Joyce of the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues push the date of the first use of cacao back to about 1100 B.C., 500 years earlier than previously known. What’s more, the researchers suggest that this early beverage was something different again — a fermented beer made from cacao pulp, not seeds.
Dr. Henderson and Dr. Joyce have been digging for years at Puerto Escondido, a village in the Ulúa Valley in what is now Honduras. They have found elegant pots, cups and other pieces of pottery and have developed a theory that the pottery was probably used on ceremonial occasions to serve cacao beverages. “Cacao was the social grease of Mesoamerica,” Dr. Henderson said.
But this theory was based only on circumstantial evidence, he added. “We were thinking we didn’t have much potential for chemical confirmation.”
Previously it was possible to detect evidence of cacao — the compounds theobromine and caffeine — only from visible residues in intact pots. But using just pottery fragments, the researchers were able to detect the compounds from residues absorbed by the clay. The findings were reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Henderson said other evidence suggested that the pottery was used for an alcoholic beverage. Most of the vessels from that time only had a narrow spout, which would be good for pouring but not for frothing up a seed-based beverage. For that, a wider mouth would be needed, and wide-mouthed vessels are not found at Puerto Escondido for several hundred years.
Dr. Henderson suggested that the Mesoamericans fermented cacao first to make beer, eventually discovering, likely by accident, that the fermented seeds made an even better beverage. If so, he said, the rise of cacao and the eventual birth of the modern chocolate industry — all of which began with the passion for the frothy drink — “would then be an unintended consequence of something different,” he said.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Chicago most caffeinated U.S. city
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071106/lf_nm_life/cities_caffeine_dc
Chicago most caffeinated U.S. city: survey
By Kristina Cooke
Tue Nov 6, 2007
The windy city is also the most wired, according to a survey that showed people in Chicago are the most caffeinated in the United States.
Chicagoans eat more chocolate and drink more cola than other U.S. urbanites, and are among the top consumers of energy drinks and coffee.
They are also likely to say caffeine is good for you, according to the poll conducted by Prince Market Research.
Tampa, Miami, Phoenix and Atlanta rounded out the top five most caffeinated cities, while residents of San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Baltimore consumed the least caffeine.
"It's surprising perhaps that some places you may think have a lot of hustle and bustle like San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York, were the least caffeinated cities," said Todd Smith, a spokesman for HealthSaver, a healthcare discount service that commissioned the poll.
The survey looked at consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, sodas, energy drinks and caffeine pills in 20 major cities in the United States by interviewing 2,000 people.
Seattle took the top spot in just caffeinated coffee consumption. Nearly 60 percent of residents in the city said coffee would be the most difficult caffeine product to give up.
The growing popularity of "high-end" coffees, energy drinks and green tea has added to more caffeine consumption around the world, according to HealthSaver.
Half of all the people questioned in the poll said they drank coffee every day, followed by 21 percent who drank caffeinated cola.
New Yorkers and San Franciscans were also among people most likely to say caffeine is bad for you. More than 70 percent of people questioned in the poll said they were not addicted to caffeine. The older the age group the more likely they were to say coffee would be the most difficult caffeinated product to give up.
Chicago most caffeinated U.S. city: survey
By Kristina Cooke
Tue Nov 6, 2007
The windy city is also the most wired, according to a survey that showed people in Chicago are the most caffeinated in the United States.
Chicagoans eat more chocolate and drink more cola than other U.S. urbanites, and are among the top consumers of energy drinks and coffee.
They are also likely to say caffeine is good for you, according to the poll conducted by Prince Market Research.
Tampa, Miami, Phoenix and Atlanta rounded out the top five most caffeinated cities, while residents of San Francisco, Philadelphia, New York, Detroit and Baltimore consumed the least caffeine.
"It's surprising perhaps that some places you may think have a lot of hustle and bustle like San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York, were the least caffeinated cities," said Todd Smith, a spokesman for HealthSaver, a healthcare discount service that commissioned the poll.
The survey looked at consumption of coffee, tea, chocolate, sodas, energy drinks and caffeine pills in 20 major cities in the United States by interviewing 2,000 people.
Seattle took the top spot in just caffeinated coffee consumption. Nearly 60 percent of residents in the city said coffee would be the most difficult caffeine product to give up.
The growing popularity of "high-end" coffees, energy drinks and green tea has added to more caffeine consumption around the world, according to HealthSaver.
Half of all the people questioned in the poll said they drank coffee every day, followed by 21 percent who drank caffeinated cola.
New Yorkers and San Franciscans were also among people most likely to say caffeine is bad for you. More than 70 percent of people questioned in the poll said they were not addicted to caffeine. The older the age group the more likely they were to say coffee would be the most difficult caffeinated product to give up.
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