In 1519 Montezuma served Hernando Cortez a cold, bitter drink called cacahauti. Cortez brought some back to Spain but the Spaniards felt it was too bitter. They removed the chilies and added sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and served it hot. It was not until the 1800s that chocolate made its appearance as candy. Recently several health claims have been made for chocolate.

A healthy chocolate population

The people of an island, Kuna, in Panama rarely have high blood pressure but they drink around five cups of cocoa a day. If they leave the island, they have the blood pressure of average urban dwellers and, correcting for eating a modern diet, the loss of the cocoa drinking seems to be the difference. A study took volunteers who ate the usual modern diet and gave them 100g of chocolate for 15 days and their blood pressure was lowered. The chocolate also seemed to improve the body's ability to metabolize sugar.

What are some of the other benefits of chocolate?

Chocolate has four times the anti-oxidants of tea (but not green tea). It is similar to aspirin in preventing platelets from sticking together or clotting. It contains the anti-oxidant flavanol. Chocolate acts as an anti-depressant through the action of phenylethlamines which stimulates the production of endorphins, the same neurotransmitters found in the "runner's high." They also appear to increase brain levels of serotonin. It contains procyanidins which counteract oxidation and inflammation. They may also improve memory by increasing blood flow to the brain.

What kind of chocolate works best?

All studies emphasize that dark chocolate is not only best, but the only beneficial form of chocolate. Anti-oxidants are greatly reduced in milk or white chocolate and these also contain unhealthy fats.