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...the magical love drug?
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NEWS FLASH!! Americans
spent a staggering $700 million on chocolate this week alone so
surely it is more than just a food?!
THE BACKGROUND STUFF
According to Jonathon Hoskin, a food scientist at Clemson University
in South Carolina...
“Chocolate is probably one of the most complicated foods”
Here are just a few of its effects...
- It mimics the brain chemistry of romantic love
- It tickles the same brain regions as marijuana
and coffee
- The fat in it, cocoa butter, is heavily saturated,
yet it doesn’t raise serum cholesterol
- A 2-ounce piece of chocolate can kill
a dog
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ARE
YOU CONCENTRATING? HERE COMES THE SCIENCE BIT!
Causes of lovely warm feeling
- There are thousands of chemical compounds in
a chocolate bar
- The love-drug in chocolate is a group of compounds
know as
phenylethyl-amines (FEEN-el-Eth-el-a-meens)
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Effects of lovely chemicals
- These compounds have the same effect on the
brain as the natural stimulants dopamine and adrenaline (which
you already know all about of course!)
- Blood pressure and sugar levels rise slightly
and the pulse quickens
- This leaves you with heightened senses and
a feeling of well-being.
- Chemicals similar to caffeine have a slight
stimulant effect but they are somewhat weaker than the caffeine
in coffee as you would need to eat 12 chocolate bars to equal
the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee!
- The same goes for the stimulants which work
on the part of the brain affected by marijuana - We have yet to
identify whether they are strong enough in chocolate to be felt
Paula Herzog from the University of Michigan suggests that...
“You’d have to eat so much that you’d be feeling
so sick that you’d miss all the good effect”
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| THE
HISTORY BIT
Seventeenth century British scientist Henry Stubbe
described seeing fine veins of a white substance in the cocoa bean
under a microscope, and found that heating these veins produced
‘fat globules’ which were solid and melted on the tongue
as fat would.
Can you guess what this substance is?... ‘White Chocolate’
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OH WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE SO FATTENING?
The cocoa bean contains both the flavour
of chocolate and the fat Herzog believes that chocolate never hurt
anybody and that you should never deny the urge as you set yourself
up for terrible cravings (AND SHE’S A NUTRITIONALIST SO SHE
MUST BE RIGHT!)
However, if you are weight conscious, eat only the best, richest
chocolate as whatever negative effects on the waistline are more
than offset by the sense of well-being you will feel.
SO GO AHEAD AND EAT AS MUCH CHOCOLATE
AS YOU LIKE!!!!
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