The above image is courtesy of See’s Chocolates and Google Images.

Health Friday is a series devoted to Big Pharma, vaccines, general health, and associated topics. Today’s offering is a Special Edition in honor of Valentine’s Day. However, the discussion is not limited to what is presented here: It is an Open Thread.

There are Important Wolf Moon Notifications, the Rules of our late, good Wheatie, and certain caveats from Yours Truly, of which readers should be aware. They are linked here.

Yours Truly begins the exploration of the delicious, highly-desired, and — surprise! — nutritious, beneficial food known as Dark Chocolate, here: https://nutritionsource.hsph/harvard.edu/food-features/dark-chocolate/. Yes, dark chocolate has a long and “rich” (no pun intended) history. The ancient Mayans discovered chocolate (what we would call “dark chocolate”) and drank it as a bitter concoction that was sometimes mixed with herbs. From the Harvard article:

The Mayan culture actually used chocolate for currency and for trade. Only members of the royal family and of the nobility were permitted to drink or otherwise consume chocolate. Please see: https://www.newsweek.com/ancient-maya-used-chocolate-money-1001513, “Ancient Mayans Used Chocolate for Money”, 29 June 2018.

When the Spanish Conquistadors discovered what is now Mexico, they began to send chocolate back to Europe. At first, again, it was used there among royal and noble classes as a beverage or as a food item that was chewed. In fact, King Louis XIV of France would send for shipments of chocolate from Mexico for his Spanish-born Queen, Marie Therese, which were packed in roses and herbs to “keep them fresh.” Over time, the availability and consumption of dark chocolate began to increase among all levels of society.

Dark chocolate has several important health benefits. One example of an article that describes these benefits is here: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-dark-chocolate, “7 Proven Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate — Healthline.”, 13 July 2022. The seven benefits:

Dark chocolate is packed with nutrition: A 100-gram bar of dark chocolate with 70% – 85% cocoa has, among other things, 11 grams of fiber and 66% of the daily recommended amount of iron.

Dark chocolate is a strong source of antioxidants, as it contains polyphenols (compounds found in plant foods) and flavanols (a subgroup of flavinoids.)

Dark chocolate can lower blood pressure and help blood flow in the body.

Dark chocolate raises the HDL (“good” cholesterol) level in the body, while also lowering the damage that some forms of LDL (“bad” cholesterol) can do to the body.

Dark chocolate may reduce the risk of heart disease, due to the lowering of the LDL damage as described above.

The flavanols in dark chocolate can help protect the skin from sun damage.

Dark chocolate may help to improve brain function in older persons, while at the same time, assisting in blood flow to the brain in younger persons.

However, there are a couple of negative aspects about dark chocolate of which consumers should be aware. The first is that Lead and/or Cadmium (heavy metals) can be added into the manufacturing process. Please see here: https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/good-food/dark-chocolate-health-benefits-the-good-and-the-bad-to-this-sweet-treat/2023/02, 14 February 2023. There is an embedded link in this article to a Consumer Reports piece regarding high Lead and/or Cadmium levels that were found in certain brands of dark chocolate. The second drawback is that the same 100-gram bar of Dark Chocolate described above also contains about 43 grams of fat. Please see here: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/dark-chocolate, “What are the benefits of dark chocolate?”, by Jamie Eske, 25 October 2023.

There are scientific papers published on Dark Chocolate. Here is an example: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9589144/, ‘Dark Chocolate: An overview of its biological activity, processing, and fortification approaches”, Sharmistha Samanta, et al., 15 October 2022. Below is the Abstract of the paper:

And, from the same paper, Figure 2, on the health benefits of Dark Chocolate:

Finally, a recipe, courtesy of Lorraine Elliott, for Dark Chocolate Energy Bars:

Yours Truly is not advocating that people consume Dark Chocolate as their principal source of antioxidants, fiber, and so on. On the other hand, the above facts may come in handy to rebut allegations along the lines of, “Well, Dark Chocolate is just fattening and can hurt your arteries” from persons who do not know the information in today’s offering. “Moderation is the key.”

Happy Valentine’s Day to all! Peace, Good Energy, Respect: PAVACA