Chocolate in Health and Nutrition represents the first comprehensive compilation of the newest data on the actions of the flavonoids and microorganisms associated with the beneficial effects of chocolate. This unique text provides practical, data-driven resources based upon the totality of the evidence to help the reader understand the basics, treatments and preventive strategies that are involved in the understanding of the role chocolate may play in healthy individuals as well as those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or neurocognitive declines. Of equal importance, critical issues that involve patient concerns, such as dental caries and food preferences in children, potential effects on weight gain, addiction and withdrawal are included in well-referenced, informative chapters. The latest research on the role of chocolate in normal health areas including mood, pain and weight management, cardiovascular disease and related conditions are presented. Chocolate in Health and Nutrition provides health professionals in many areas of research and practice with the most up-to-date, well referenced and comprehensive volume on the current state of the science and medical uses of chocolate.

Following on from their previous volume on Chocolate as Medicine, Philip K. Wilson and W. Jeffrey Hurst edit this companion volume, Chocolate and Health, providing a comprehensive overview of the chemistry, nutrition and bioavailability of cacao and chocolate. The book begins with a brief historical introduction to the topic, outlining the current and historical medical uses of chocolate and chocolate derivatives. The remainder of the text is arranged into three sections, taking the reader through various aspects of the nutritional and health aspects of cacoa. The first section covers the cultivation, chemistry and genome analysis of cacao. The second section discusses the biochemistry and nutritional components of cacao in relation to health, covering bioavailabilty and the metabolism and metabolomics of cacao. The final section provides an overview of the potential use of chocolate in health and medical care. Each section is written and prepared by experts within each field, providing a global perspective of the current and ongoing research in this area. This text provides the reader with a complete overview of the field and is of interest to food and biomedical scientists, as well as nutritionists, medicinal chemists and anyone with an interest in chocolate.

Chocolate in Health and Nutrition represents the first comprehensive compilation of the newest data on the actions of the flavonoids and microorganisms associated with the beneficial effects of chocolate. This unique text provides practical, data-driven resources based upon the totality of the evidence to help the reader understand the basics, treatments and preventive strategies that are involved in the understanding of the role chocolate may play in healthy individuals as well as those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes or neurocognitive declines. Of equal importance, critical issues that involve patient concerns, such as dental caries and food preferences in children, potential effects on weight gain, addiction and withdrawal are included in well-referenced, informative chapters. The latest research on the role of chocolate in normal health areas including mood, pain and weight management, cardiovascular disease and related conditions are presented. Chocolate in Health and Nutrition provides health professionals in many areas of research and practice with the most up-to-date, well referenced and comprehensive volume on the current state of the science and medical uses of chocolate.

Following on from their previous volume on Chocolate as Medicine, Philip K. Wilson and W. Jeffrey Hurst edit this companion volume, Chocolate and Health, providing a comprehensive overview of the chemistry, nutrition and bioavailability of cacao and chocolate. The book begins with a brief historical introduction to the topic, outlining the current and historical medical uses of chocolate and chocolate derivatives. The remainder of the text is arranged into three sections, taking the reader through various aspects of the nutritional and health aspects of cacoa. The first section covers the cultivation, chemistry and genome analysis of cacao. The second section discusses the biochemistry and nutritional components of cacao in relation to health, covering bioavailabilty and the metabolism and metabolomics of cacao. The final section provides an overview of the potential use of chocolate in health and medical care. Each section is written and prepared by experts within each field, providing a global perspective of the current and ongoing research in this area. This text provides the reader with a complete overview of the field and is of interest to food and biomedical scientists, as well as nutritionists, medicinal chemists and anyone with an interest in chocolate.

Detailing the positive physical and psychological effects of chocolate, this book explores its colorful history, botany, and chemistry. Explaining the science behind chocolate, common myths about chocolate--that it causes acne, allergies, migraines, and hyperactivity--are dispelled, and its benefits--tannins in chocolate actually help prevent cavities--are revealed. Providing medical information relating to chocolate's high antioxidant levels and beneficial effects in terms of heart disease, cancer, aging, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease, the book also includes information regarding chocolate's mental health benefits. The included recipes provide a multitude of healthy ways to eat chocolate, from flourless chocolate cake to Mexican mole, and a comprehensive list of resources shows chocolate lovers where to find the best-quality chocolates around the world.

Cocoa and chocolate are the subjects of much research in the fields of food chemistry, food technology, and health science. We now know that cocoa contains a remarkable number of bioactive compounds, and these are being tested in humans to verify their disease prevention characteristics. This state of the art text thoroughly explores the different aspects of the relationship between chocolate and health. After introductory discussion of the historical background, careful attention is devoted to technological developments designed to improve the health-giving qualities of chocolate and biochemical and clinical trials of cocoa and its components. Various health impacts of cocoa and chocolate are thoroughly evaluated, including acute vascular effects and effects on blood pressure, blood lipids, and platelets. Psychological drivers of chocolate consumption and craving are also considered. Readers will find this book to be a rich source of essential information on cocoa and chocolate, their purported health-giving qualities, and the advances that are being made in this area.

The Mesoamerican population who lived near the indigenous cultivation sites of the "Chocolate Tree" (Theobromo cacao) had a multitude of documented applications of chocolate as medicine, ranging from alleviating fatigue to preventing heart ailments to treating snakebite. Until recently, these applications have received little sound scientific scrutiny. Rather, it has been the reputed health claims stemming from Europe and the United States which have attracted considerable biomedical attention. This book, for the first time, describes the centuries-long quest to uncover chocolate's potential health benefits. The authors explore variations in the types of evidence used to support chocolate's use as medicine as well as note the ongoing tension over categorizing chocolate as food or medicine, and more recently, as functional food or nutraceutical. The authors, Wilson an historian of science and medicine, and Hurst an analytical chemist in the chocolate industry, bring their collective insights to bear upon the development of ideas and practices surrounding the use of chocolate as medicine. Chocolate's use in this manner is explored first among the Mesoamerican peoples, then as it is transported to Europe, and back into Colonial North America. The authors then focus upon more recent bioscience experimental undertakings which have been aimed to ascertain both long-standing and novel suggestions as to chocolate's efficacy as a medicinal and a nutritional substance. Chocolate/s reputation as the most craved food boosts this book's appeal to food and biomedical scientists, cacao researchers, ethnobotanists, historians, folklorists, and healers of all types as well as to the general reading audience.