Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

CEM — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 02:44:02 GMT

Why do you discourage people from eating chocolate in the form of cocoa powder alone mixed with water or even some kinf of fruit juice? I love the taste of cocoa powder. It doesn't need sugar or milk.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

tcio — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:43:17 GMT

I went straight to cacao beans once I started seriously researching health and nutrition. At first I wanted to puke when I tasted it but then a friend at a local health food store suggested to throw some Agave in there. That did the trick but I then got a little concerned about the high fructose content of Agave so went with Brown Rice Syrup and/or Honey.

Probably still more sweets than I need but man does it ever give me a nice natural food energy boost on those days I just cannot seem to get motivated. I also get a fantastic mood uplift from cacao beans (raw organic cacao beans btw). I couldn’t have made it through my divorce without Sam-E and Cacao Beans lol! Actually it was no laughing matter at the time. Although it was the SAM-e that got me through the first year, the cacao beans got me through the following years to come once I was well enough to stop taking Sam-e.

To this day I still eat a small cup usually everyday. It gives me energy for hours sometimes half of the whole day without any spikes or crashes. It is my favorite food on the planet.

They can be extremely time consuming and a real pain in the rear to peel them but they always seem to taste much better and fresher than the cacao nibs. I got so tired of peeling them that I almost went back to nibs and then I made a fantastic discovery:

I take a handful, the amount I plan on eating, run them under water hot, warm, cold, doesn’t matter and swish tem around making sure they get good and wet, I then lay them down a towel or paper towel for a couple of minutes. Then I take a semi sharp small kitchen knife, make a little slice only on the outer shell and peel the rest off using my finger nails. What used to take me 20 minutes I can now do in 3-5 and they still taste just fine ?

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Elphaba — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:09:52 GMT

How much is 6.7 grams? Oh wait, I just looked it up and it's about 1.4 teaspoons. I like to put cocoa powder on a piece of wheat bread (no I haven't given up wheat yet because I love) and then add canola oil on top of it, spread it around, and it tastes really yummy. It really lessens the bitter flavor of all the cocoa I put on it.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

HealthfullLee4U — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:32:40 GMT

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT HERSHY'S COMPANY IS NOW USING GMO BEET SUGAR IN ALL OF THEIR CANDIES, EXCEPT THOSE MANUFACTURED FOR BRAZIL, WHERE MANY OF THE GERMAN SCIENTISTS WHO WERE INVOLVED IN PRODUCING THE GMO VARIETIES NOW LIVE !!

This sudden appeal to members of the health community for the health benefits of chocolate, might just be another way to open avenues of selling GMO crops for agricultural revenue and also pharmaceutical revenue. When the sale of meat went down, soy protein was advertised as being a healthy alternative.

Be wary of this trojan horse and others.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Komic Kaze — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:58:45 GMT

6.7 grams seems a bit low to me. But then again, I love 85 and higher percentage chocolate. I'm not about to buy baking bars to snack on, but the more cacao, the better the chocolate makes me feel. It has theobromine and resvertol or however you spell it and leads to feeling good. No crash. It goes great with coffee. Organic fair trade shade grown coffee that is. I'm sure you could call chocolate a drug, but it's so much more than that. Pure chocolate is one of God's gifts to the world and should be enjoyed in moderation. I eat about two bars a week. I let the antioxidants flow through my bloodstream for maximum absorption. Just make sure there is no milk and minimal sugar in your chocolate. 85% Lindt and 86% Ghiradelli are two of my favorites.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Coregon — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:00:58 GMT

As well as resveratrol, your Hershey's chocolate probably has melamine in it too...(the stuff that they found in tainted dog food made in China). Hershey's has contracted some of the processing of their chocolate to China. The only defense from Hershey's is "we do not get our milk for milk chocolate in China" (good thing..considering Chinese manufacturing of baby formula is killing their babies!) Hershey's is also processing much of their product in Mexico, putting thousands of U.S. workers out of jobs in these hard times. So who needs chocolate? I don't.

Hershey's has also begun manufacturing a new candy called "Ice Breakers" which resembles crack cocaine. So much for family values.

Side Note from Reuters:

Worm your way out of this one…

Counterfeit Ferrero Roche chocolates in China were found to contain worms, moths, and larvae, according to international news this week.

Reports claim the products were contaminated during the manufacturing process. Worms were also found in wooden packaging for fish oils and children's supplements, according to Reuters.

Still got a craving?

-----------------------

The reason Hershey's is moving its manufacturing plants to foreign countries..well I don't know, but here's my guess:

"Hershey sweetens its future

US-based chocolate giant Hershey has entered into a new short-term credit agreement to borrow $300m, the company said yesterday. Hershey entered an agreement in December last year in order to borrow up to $1.1bn.

In its latest results for the quarter ending 1 July 2007, Hershey said its margins had been affected by the high price of raw materials, dropping to 3.1 per cent, compared to 17.3 per cent for the same period in 2006.

"Due to seasonal working capital needs, share repurchases, and other business activities, the company expects short-term borrowings to exceed $1.1bn from time to time during the next twelve months," Hershey said last week.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

NaturalCures — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 11:54:14 GMT

I switched from milk chocolate to dark chocolate later on in life... after hearing all the bad things about milk chocolate... and the good about dark chocolate. You can buy dark chocolate almonds which are delcious (we buy them at our local grocery store - Publix) ... and sometimes we make them. I buy ghiradelli dark chocolate chips... melt them... and dip the almonds into them to make a delicious treat. If you get the kids involved, they will most likely love them too. I know mine does (and it is great because she is allergic to milk so she can't eat milk chocolate).

When I am really craving something extra sweet, I take the dark chocolate covered almonds and dip them into peanut butter. Very tasty! I know, peanut butter is not the best for you... so I try not to do it too often.

Hope

www.provennaturalcures.com

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Julieanne — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:14:54 GMT

If I make my raw cacao drink using milk, is that cancelling out the benefits - like eating milk chocolate? I don't think I would enjoy it made with water. I sweeten it with Xylitol, which is not an artificial sweetener, but made from birch trees.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

gaiasfire — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:50:17 GMT

The real way to get health benefits from 'chocolate' is to eat raw cacao beans, nibs, or chocolate compounds made with ground up cacao beans, a low g.i. sweetner such as agave syrup, and a good quality fat such as coconut oil or cacao butter....also, dagoba do a 100% cacao bean chocolate bar that doesn't have anything else added....after eating these natural, tasty, truly healthy varieties of chocolate, milk chocolate (which is really just cocoa-flavoured confectionary) will be something of the past!!!!

many people are allergic to cane sugar, so even if there are some benefits to eating dark chocolate, the sugar content will still cause a reaction and probably squander any health giving properties the chocolate may have had.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Rivkah_203 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:31:53 GMT

Once I radically reduced the amount of sugar in my diet I could no longer eat milk chocolate- it was sickeningly sweet. Also on an interesting note, while supplementing with magnesium citrate I noticed one day that I was no longer a "chocoholic." Even when I went out chocolate desserts didn't seem so appealing anymore. I've heard before that women crave chocolate during PMS due to the magnesium content and my experience makes me think there might really be something to that. It's another tool "chocoholics" can add to their arsenal to manage cravings. And it's cheap and can help other health conditions to boot. I used Peter Gillham's "Calm." (found it at Whole Foods)

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

wlexxx — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:47:10 GMT

lead in chocolate comes from *shipping*?

how does shipping cause lead to appear?

wle.

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

rajsanand — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:58:16 GMT

Resveratrol is found in grapes for crying out loud. But nobody is talking about grapes here.

So it is pretty obvious that Resveratrol in Wine is a industry driven propagand.

Resveratrol is good for you, I am not saying the companies are totally lying about Resveratrol or where its found.

But the misinformation is that the entire media which is driven by the alchohol industry is trying to make us believe the Resveratrol is found only in Wine. Yes wine contains more Resveratrol than grape juice, but the difference is just a few micrograms. Since wine is a little more concentrated than grape juice. So if someone makes grape juice concentrate then it will definately contain more Resveratrol than wine.

Did you all know that the study which said alchohol is good for you was done with wine. But the alchohol industry and the media covered the fact. Infact when news was first published, the headline read "2 pegs of alchohol is good for you" but the story mentions that the study was done on wine and the picture shows wine in a glass. I know still many people who are drinking whisky and vodka thinking it is good for them.

I am just citing the above as an example of how the media hogwashes us.

So yes we have to think twice about whatever is said. We also have to see the amount of Resveratrol available in chocolates. Peanuts too contain Resveratrol even blueberries, but the amounts are half than that are present in red grapes.

Swami barmi has put forward this point very nicely. Chocolate is cannot be even considered a Resveratrol source.

Oh and the wiki tells you that Resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced naturally by several plants when under attack by pathogens such as bacteria or fungi.

So I think one can assume that it may only be present in chocolate under these conditions and maybe not present even in grapes if it was not under attack by a bacteria or fungi.

Oh and btw Japanese Knotweed is the richest source of Resveratrol and is edible and supplements are made from it

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

StrangerHereMyself — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:56:35 GMT

Resveratrol is alcohol-soluble, meaning it is more easily absorbed when consumed with alcohol than without. That being said, I'll take any excuse to eat a little more dark chocolate :)

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

WellnessMom — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:23:13 GMT

Wow! The Hershey's Center for Health and Nutrition huh? The same Hershey's as in Hershey's Chocolate makers? I'm sure the Hershey's scientists are very eager to let the public know that now we can eat even more chocolate for our health and their profit.

In moderation dark chocolate does have it's benefits, but come on, isn't this more or less promoting more unhealthy eating habits for even more unhealthy kids and adults in the world?

re: Resveratrol Also Found in Dark Chocolate and Cocoa

Dean Deleo — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 18:58:31 GMT

At least they have no bias so we shouldnt be concerned that this study was used for commerce ...