The Hot Chocolates Blog » Health Benefits

What I love about our Chocolates

sharon — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:19:41 +0000

What I love about all the chocolates we make is that they are made with high quality Belgian chocolate, using quality ingredients that set them apart from mainstream chocolate available in the UK. If you have tasted our chocolate you will know this is true. It’s all in the taste. Good quality chocolate does not use added cheap alternatives to the cocoa butter and mass found in Belgian chocolate. You will find a higher cocoa content in all our chocolate which means there is less room for anything else. Order online at hotchocolates.biz

Real Chocolate – The Elixir of Life?

sharon — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:16:12 +0000

A study carried out by the London School of Management and Science and reported in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology has demonstrated that eating chocolate high in antioxidants significantly improves your skin’s resistance to sun damage. Fresh cocoa beans are exceptionally rich in flavanols. Unfortunately, during conventional chocolate making, this high antioxidant capacity is greatly reduced during roasting. The team’s aim was to evaluate the photoprotective potential of chocolate consumption, comparing a conventional dark chocolate to a specially produced chocolate with preserved high flavanol levels.
A study in 30 healthy people was conducted. Fifteen were assigned to either a high or low flavanol chocolate group and consumed a daily 20 g portion of chocolate. After 12 weeks the chocolate group consuming the specially prepared chocolate significantly improved their skin’s resistance to sun damage whereas the group consuming conventional chocolate did not. They concluded that the study demonstrated that regular consumption of a chocolate rich in flavanols confers significant photoprotection and can be effective in protecting human skin from harmful UV effects. Conventional chocolate has no such effect. We now sell this chocolate in our online shop.

Does Chocolate contain Caffeine?

sharon — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 21:17:23 +0000

There is some debate whether chocolate contains caffeine certainly as far as the BMA is concerned dark and milk chocolate do. The caffeine is present in very small amounts the greatest of which is in the higher cocoa content. The good news is that it is nothing like the amounts found in cups of coffee. The average cup of coffee contains 10 – 15 times the caffeine present in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate contains between 5 – 10 mg per 25g and milk chocolate between 1 – 5mg.

Have you got Chocolate on the brain?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:16:40 +0000

Research by Judith Wurtman, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, focused on how certain foods alter a person’s mood by influencing the level of certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters – dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin. This research showed that neurotransmitters are produced in the brain from components of certain foods.
Chemicals that can influence mood and appetite are the endorphins. These are the body’s natural opiate-like chemicals that produce a positive mood state, decreased pain sensitivity and reduced stress. Endorphins are released when a person is in pain, during starvation or in exercise – resulting in a “runner’s high.” A food substance related to endorphins is phenylethylamine, which is found in chocolate. There is some evidence that chocolate may improve mood temporarily due to its levels of sugar, fat, phenylethylamine and caffeine. The sugar in chocolate is associated with a release of the neurotransmitter serotonin, and the fat and phenylethylamine are associated with an endorphin release. This combination produces an effect that has been called “optimal brain happiness.” The caffeine in chocolate adds a temporary stimulant effect.

Does Chocolate cause spots?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:15:46 +0000

There is a popular belief that the consumption of chocolate can cause acne. This belief is not supported by scientific studies. Various studies point not to chocolate, but to the high glycemic nature of certain foods, like sugar, corn syrup and other simple carbohydrates, as a cause of acne. Chocolate itself has a low glycemic index.
German researchers gave 24 women a half-cup of special extra-flavonoid-enriched cocoa every day. After three months, the women’s skin was moister, smoother, and less scaly and red when exposed to ultraviolet light. The researchers think the flavonoids, which absorb UV light, help protect and increase blood flow to the skin, improving its appearance.

Is the fat in Chocolate bad for you?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:14:16 +0000

The fat content of the cocoa bean is one third oleic acid, one third stearic acid and one third palmitic acid. Oleic acid is a mono saturated fat like olive oil. According to research studies, stearic acid has no effect on cholesterol. Palmitic acid is a saturated fat and does affect cholesterol levels. However, according to Dr. Phillip Drew Minton who has written a book about the health benefits of chocolate, some saturated fat is necessary in diet as saturated fats provide protection against skin cancer whereas unsaturated fats do not.

Can Chocolate help prevent cancer and heart disease?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:12:56 +0000

Chocolate may be better for your health than tea because it contains more of a chemical that could prevent cancer and heart disease, researchers have said.
The research measured the amount of catechins – the chemical thought to be behind the benefits – in different types of chocolate.
The substance is also found in tea – leading the researchers to recommend a cup of tea with a chocolate biscuit as one way to help maintain good health.
The researchers, from Holland’s National Institute of Public Health and Environment, published their findings in The Lancet medical journal. Dr Ilja Arts and colleagues examined the chemical compounds in a range of foods and discovered that catechins are found in chocolate. Up until now tea was thought to contain the largest amount but the new research indicates that dark chocolate has four times as many. Catechins are believed to protect against heart disease and cancer and so eating products that contain them could have health benefits.

What are the health benefits of Chocolate?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:09:24 +0000

Chocolate contains flavonoids, powerful antioxidants, stearic acid, phenylethylamine, theobromine plus many essential minerals such as magnesium and iron.
Flavanoids or phenolic phytochemicals are compounds present in plant foods which have been recognized as having health benefits. In humans they have been found to fight against cancer and heart disease. They exist in a wide variety of foods and beverages such as apples, cranberries, peanuts, onions, red wine and tea.
In a study conducted at Cornell University, Dr. Chang Y Lee, team leader, compared the presence of the phenolic compound gallic acid and the flavonoid epicatechine in chocolate with red wine and green tea. Chocolate had 611 mg of gallic acid (GAE) as compared to 340 in red wine and 165 in green tea. Chocolate contained 564 mg of epicatechin (ECE) whereas red wine had 163 and green tea only 47.

Can Dark Chocolate help control diabetes and blood pressure?

sharon — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:07:54 +0000

Italian researchers discovered that eating 100g of dark chocolate each day for 15 days lowered blood pressure. In the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the team reported that the antioxidant called flavanol was responsible for the beneficial effect because it neutralised potentially cell-damaging substances known as oxygen free radicals. Additionally, the team from the University of L’Aquila found that the body’s ability to metabolise sugar, a problem affecting people with diabetes, improved. The flavanols found in dark chocolate helped protect against insulin resistance.