Jeremy Laurance writes in the Independent: "Not even Willy Wonka, Roald Dahl's eccentric chocolate-maker, could have dreamt that his scrumptious products might one day offer the world a panacea.
"But scientists are close to claiming just that. A compound in unrefined cocoa has health benefits that may rival those of penicillin and anaesthesia, they say.
"Norman Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, has spent years studying the Kuna people in Panama. He found that four of the most common killers - stroke, heart disease, cancer and diabetes - affected fewer than one in 10 of the Kuna.
"Unrefined natural cocoa contains high levels of epicatechin, which Professor Hollenberg said was so important it should be considered a vitamin.
"He told Chemist and Industry magazine: "If these observations predict the future, then we can say without blushing they are among the most important observations in the history of medicine. We all agree that penicillin and anaesthesia are enormously important. But epicatechin could potentially get rid of four of the five most common diseases in the Western world. How important does that make epicatechin? I would say very important.""
Well I've never had anything against chocolate myself. As someone who knows that overweight is caused by fluid retention and not by calorie excess, I know there is nothing to fear from the calories in chocolate. And since I also know that fat retention is not caused by eating too much fat, but by deficiency of calcium and vitamin D, I'm not frightened of the fat in chocolate either. I'm glad to see chocolate getting some good press.
If you are overweight and have been trying to avoid chocolate because of this, you need do this no longer. Try avoiding packets of salted crisps and salted nuts instead. - Salt and salty food increase fluid retention - that is, they increase excess weight. So by cutting down on salt and salty snacks you will shed some of the water weight from the fluid retention. You will then have lowered your blood pressure, lowered your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and lowered your risk of cancer, stroke and heart disease. - It sounds as though cutting down on salt has very similar health benefits to those of epicatechin, the substance that is praised in Jeremy Laurance's article...
Written by Margaret Wilde
Margaret is the author of www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
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