The Healing Power of Chocolate

Chocolate took the world by storm as soon as it emerged from Meso-America in the Renaissance. It has always been loved for its flavor, its romantic associations, and its enduring status as the champagne of foods. But now we are coming to realize that chocolate has both a health-giving and sacred dimension. For the indigenous peoples of Meso-America it was, of course, the drink of the gods and played a major role in many sacred ceremonies. But it is also packed with anti-oxidants and other elements highly beneficial to good health. The story below reveals that at last, thankfully, chocolate can join red wine as a pleasure, a sacrament, and a delightful source of well-being.  - Ralph White

The Healing Power of Chocolate

“Cast ye the needful with the paraphernalia ye four gods. Ye four Bacabs. Cast it into the slightly soured atole. Remove it all into the opening of his harsh breathing. When it enters into the opening, cast in the virgin cacao.” —The Ritual of the Bacabs

 

The therapeutic and nutritional properties of cacao have been at the forefront of human knowledge since remote antiquity. The Maya, Aztecs, and other Mexica peoples transformed every manifestation of the cacao tree—the seed, leaf, bark, oil (or butter), and flower—into effective curatives. Cacao was used not only by itself as the primary healing agent but also as a vehicle for other medicinal plant com­pounds that were mixed with it. The native peoples’ formulas were eagerly adopted and modified by the conquering Spaniards of the 1500s and, later, by the rest of the world, well into the twentieth century. In an ironic turn of history, modern nutrition­ists have come full circle in their quest to unlock the complexity of the rich, decadent treat we know today as chocolate: they have “discovered” the chemical compounds in dark chocolate that provide its nutritional and therapeutic value, scientific verification of an intuitive wisdom several millennia old.

 

Chocolate: Body and Heart

 

 

Unfortunately, the excessive use of sweetening products along with vegetable fat and powder in today’s commercial chocolate has led some to consider chocolate a fattening, tooth-rotting, addictive indulgence that causes poor health. Fresh cacao beans, however, contain only 2–4 percent free sugars and traces of sugar alcohols. In well-fermented beans, the sucrose can be dramatically decreased until it is near zero as fructose and glucose are increased.

           
One of the most confusing aspects about the cacao butter found in chocolate is its high level of saturated fat, which is known to clog arteries and increase cholesterol levels—two risk indicators for heart attacks. But not all saturated fats are the same. The saturated fat in cacao butter contains high amounts of stearic and oleic acids that counteract these negative effects by reducing fat absorption dramatically; much of the cacao butter we eat simply passes through our body.

           
But the most exciting revelation about dark chocolate is its high flavonoid con­tent and substantial antioxidant capacity. This composition gives chocolate the ability to fight free radicals that cause degenerative diseases in humans. The flavonoids are four to five times stronger than those of black tea, two to three times stronger than green tea, and almost two times stronger than red wine. A healthful consumption of flavonol-rich chocolate may prevent stroke, coronary disease, and possibly dementia, by dilating the blood vessels in humans!

           
One modern culture may be living proof of the longevity-inducing benefits of dark chocolate. The indigenous Kunas, who live in the isolated San Blas island chain off the coast of Panama, drink dark chocolate as part of their daily routine (at almost every meal). Yet one study concluded that they have no increase in blood pressure and hypertension as they age despite their high salt intake. Conversely, the Kunas who have migrated to Panama City and do not drink dark chocolate, or drink adulterated versions of the drink, fared as poorly as urban Caucasians in the study in having high blood pressure.

           
The Maya and others may have arrived at similar conclusions, observing, per­haps, that those who drank chocolate lived longer; this may be one reason that the drink was restricted to royalty, who had claims on immortality. When Sahagún made the analogy that the cacao pod was like the human heart, in that they both contained something precious—blood, and liquid chocolate—he certainly was not aware that chocolate actually protected the heart. But then again, if chocolate could sustain the journeying soul after death, why could it not do the same for the beating heart in life?

 

An excerpt from Chocolate Pathway to the Gods:

The Sacred Realm of Chocolate in Mesoamerica

By Meredith L. Dreiss and Sharon Edgar Creenhill

 

Photo from www.Free-Foto.com