Benefits And Adverse Effects Of Chocolate

The reputation chocolate has for
being a mood elevator can be based
in part on its chemical content;
chocolate contains several natural
mood altering chemicals including
phenylethylalanine and anandamide.
(Phenylethylalanine is the
chemical found in the blood of
people who are in love.) One of
the active ingredients, anandamide
stimulates the same parts of your
brain as marijuana, however it
would require eating 25 pounds of
chocolate at one time to get
anywhere near the effects you get
from marijuana.
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While there is a lot of discussion
about this, cocoa beans, cocoa
powder and plain dark chocolate
are all high in saturated fats;
therefore some believe that it
increases the possible risk of
heart disease. Milk chocolate has
both high levels of saturated fats
and cholesterol, high levels of
these in your blood increase your
risk of heart disease when eaten.
There are studies that contradict
these findings, showing that foods
high in stearic acid, the
saturated fat in cocoa products
lower the risk of blood clots.
Chocolate is also high in
flavonoids, these are the
antioxidant chemicals the give the
heart-healthy reputation to red
wine.
While there is less caffeine in
chocolate than in a cup of coffee
of equal size, people who are
sensitive to caffeine may have
problems eating or drinking
chocolate, it may cause them to
have mild jitters.
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Chocolate is on of the 12 foods
shown to be most likely to trigger
food allergies, upset stomach,
swelling of the lips and eyes, and
hives are some of these symptoms.
Three berries, three types of
beans, corn, eggs, fish, milk,
nuts, peaches, pork, shellfish and
wheat round out the list of high
reaction foods.
There are drug interactions to
chocolate, the MAO inhibitors used
to treat depression inactivate the
natural enzymes in your body that
metabolize tyramine, which is
found in fermented or aged foods,
like chocolate. Blood pressure
can be increased by tyramine which
constricts blood vessels.
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In the past a false-positive for
pheochromocytoma (a tumor of the
adrenal gland) could be found when
the patient ate chocolate or
cocoa, both containing VMA,
testing the urine for VMA was one
of the tests for this tumor, so
chocolate and cocoa had to be
eliminated from the diet in order
to give an accurate test reading.
There is no positive proof that
chocolate causes migraine
headaches.
Thank you,
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