February 14, 2023 — It’s official. Food Is Medicine can now take chocolate under its wings. It only took five years, but the FDA has rendered regulatory judgment to officially permit the following claim for the health benefits of chocolate: “Cocoa flavanols in high flavanol cocoa powder may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, although FDA has concluded that […]
July 5, 2021 — “Eating chocolate for breakfast can supercharge your weight loss!” This headline and many more came from a new paper in the FASEB Journal. In fact, Altmetric tells us this paper has so far generated 113 stories from 93 news outlets. In less than two weeks since publication, it has grabbed attention that puts it in […]
April 18, 2021 — Penn State earns an award this week for Most Fanciful Research Press Release. It was all about how chocolate might help with the health effects of excess fat. Of course, it was based on a study in mice. But the press release tells us that this research is relevant for humans because the dose used […]
April 4, 2021 — When chocolate Easter eggs first appeared in the 1870s from Fry’s and Cadbury’s, they were a bit of a luxury. That continued for about a century, but the emergence of mass merchandising contributed to explosive growth for the business of Easter chocolates in the latter half of the 20th century. For one day in many […]
October 10, 2016 — Medicalizing chocolate really isn’t necessary. It’s a simple, harmless, and pleasurable treat. Even a small bit of it is enough to bring a smile. In fact, a new study published in Appetite demonstrates that very fact. Researchers from Gettysburg College conducted a randomized, controlled trial of eating chocolate (the comparison was crackers) and found: Chocolate […]
November 21, 2015 — How can chocolate pills make sense to anyone? But apparently they do. Bloomberg reports that chocolate extracts sold for heart health have grown twice as fast as dark chocolate. CocoaVia, a dietary supplement of flavanols extracted from cocoa, is ringing up sales that have tripled in the last year. Someone is seriously confused. Food is food, medicine is […]
April 5, 2015 — Easter is a bit of a candy festival, surpassed only by Halloween. We’ll be spending $2.2 billion on Easter candy this year, just a hare less than the $2.5 billion Americans spent at Halloween. But it hasn’t always been like this. Before the late nineteenth century, eggs, bunnies, and maybe a few chicks were at the center of […]
November 13, 2014 — A study recently published in Appetite suggests that celebration beats guilt when thinking about chocolate cake. In a sample of 294 people, researchers assessed whether an individual associated chocolate cake with guilt or celebration. Further, they examined attitudes, intentions, behaviors, and self-control over healthy eating behaviors. And finally, they followed up 18 months later to assess changes […]
October 31, 2014 — Headlines about milk and chocolate have been a little bit upside down lately. Some are suggesting that milk might lead to an untimely death, while chocolate will sharpen your memory. How can this be? In the case of milk, epidemiologists in Sweden published a study in BMJ of more than 100,000 Swedish men and women to look […]
March 17, 2013 — Chocolate’s benefits may extend beyond mere pleasure. A number of recent studies have looked at the prebiotic effects of chocolate or cocoa in the guts of laboratory rats and humans. Chocolate or cocoa appears to be a prebiotic that is rich in polyphenols, among other substances. A prebiotic is a food ingredient that promotes healthy bacteria in […]
