CHOCOLATE

Prehrambeno-tehnoloki fakultet Osijek Student: Maja Grgurovac

Chocolate is the most favourite food product in industry. The research on how to produce or modify chocolate as well as to invent a new product has been proved endless. Based on the consumer point of view, chocolate is popular for it's magnificent taste and contains a considerable amount of nutritional value.In today's society, chocolate is everywhere. According to the US Department of Commerce, the average American ate 11.7 pounds of chocolate in the year. American adults ranked chocolate as the most-craved food and as their favorite flavor . However, while people love it, they can't help feeling a pang of guilt when eating it because over the years, chocolate has gotten a "bad rap" as being an unhealthy food. Recent research is slowly unraveling the hidden truth about chocolate - that it might actually be beneficial to a balanced diet. Chocolate comes from cacao tree. Cultivation of cacao trees can occur only in tropical climates, 20 degrees north or south of the equator. A growing regions including West Africa, Brazil, Ecuador and the Indies. Generally, it takes five years before the trees start bearing fruit in the form of pods. Each pod contains an average of 20-40 cocoa cream. Once harvested, the beans had fermented, where they begin to develop their characteristic brown color. Cacao beans are removed from their pods before fermenting and drying. The fermented and dried beans are then roasted, winnowed, milled and pressed, creating chocolate liquor. The chocolate liquor is then mixed with different ingredients to make different types of chocolate. Then the mixture has to be refined, conch, tempered and moulded before the chocolate bar is made. Cocoa butter is a natural fat from cocoa beans. Has a soft aroma of chocolate, but it was very bitter. It is used to give body, smoothness, and taste for chocolate. Or liquor can be poured into molds, cooled and hardened into without sugar, or cake, chocolate. The higher the cocoa butter content, the thinner the viscosity of the final chocolate product. The majority of chocolate in Europe has a cocoa butter content is higher than that made in America. Chocolate plus cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla aroma processed to produce a dark, aromatic chocolate. Different chocolate liquor ratios produce sweet, semisweet and bitter chocolate. To make chocolate milk, whole fresh milk is added to this mixture. White chocolate is a mixture of cocoa butter, sugar, milk and vanilla made flavoring. Some manufacturers use pure chocolate, not made with pure vanilla vanillin as a flavoring and use milk solids rather than whole milk. Some dark chocolate can contain milk products.

Chocolate is Healthy High antioxidant value First of all, chocolate has a higher antioxidant value than blueberries. Antioxidant is a substance, such as vitamin C, vitamin B or beta carotene. Cacao has been found to have a higher antioxidant capacity than red wine and tea. Red wine, tea and blueberries are well known food with high antioxidant value. A chocolate with high cacao content contains a higher antioxidant value. Thus, it can be concluded that dark chocolate, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate, which all have higher cacao contents than other types of chocolate, is beneficial for our health. Chocolate also defends the body from damage of free radicals. Free radicals are unstable, highly reactive forms of oxygen that can attack the body in various ways. Antioxidants protect the body from free radicals, which are being categorized into various types and they inflict varying degrees of cellular damage in different parts of the body. Free radicals are neutralized by antioxidants. This will prevent any change in the structure of healthy cells, thus curbing any cause for chronic diseases. Lowers anxiety / Brightens mood It is well-known that chocolate releases endorphins chemicals in the brain. Endorphins chemical in chocolate is released by a compound called phenylethylamine (PEA). This results in a pleasurable feeling. Chocolate releases natural feel-good chemicals called endorphins in the brain. Chocolate raises serotonin levels in the brain. Ordinary chocolate is known to raise serotonin levels in the brain, which produces feelings of elation. Smolin and Grosvenor explained that consuming chocolate causes the brain to produce natural opiates, which dulls pain and improves mood. In addition to that, Scharffen Berger state that chocolate is one of natures most concentrated sources of theobromine. Theobromine is a mild, natural stimulant and "cousin" of caffeine. However, theobromine is not as strong as caffeine. Theobromine has been used as a cough suppressant. Although the theobromine level in chocolate is not as high as those found in clinical trials, eating a bar of dark chocolate will still help when one is having a bad cough. Provides a lot of energy In addition to that, some chocolate are used by the military. Twenty to forty pounds of chocolate were shipped overseas to field bases during World War I. During World War II, chocolate bar rations have to meet specific requirements set by the U.S. Army. The bars needed to be about four ounces, high heat resistance, little taste and high food value. Chocolate is energy-dense and provides one hundred and fifty thousand calories per ounce. These chocolate are easily eaten and usually bought for traveling.

Chocolate Power Boost Brain Function Chocolate contains many substances that are as stimulants such as theobromine, phenethylamine, and caffeine, compounds that have been found previously to be increased level of awareness and ability to concentrate. The results showed, by consuming chocolate can have stimulating effects that will make increased mental performance. Also chocolate can also improve memory both verbally and visually. Prevent the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes and cancer Brown has the ability to inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and improve immune function, thus preventing the risk of coronary heart disease and cancer.

The negative impact of chocolate and handling Some chocolate contain high sugar and fat contents The most beneficial chocolate are those with a high concentration of chocolate liquor and bitter taste such as dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate. This bitter taste came from the flavanols in chocolate. As a result, many manufacturers take out this bitter component or add lots of sugar to rid chocolate of this bitter taste, making chocolate not as healthy as it is supposed to be. Even some semi-sweet chocolate can have up to sixty five percent of sugar. Another fact is that chocolate may cause hormonal imbalance due to the high sugar level. Many types of chocolate are added table sugar, which is a host of serious health disorders such as hormonal imbalance, diabetes, heart disease, and cancers. High calories All the unwanted sugar in chocolate results in very high calories. Many commercially marketed chocolates tend to have very high sugar and fat contents. Empty calories are also a result from the added dairy product as it inhibits the absorption of cocoa nutrients. Extensive studies conducted on animals have proven that consuming high calorie food shortens lifespan. As a result, eating the wrong type of chocolate will give the exact opposite of what the benefits should have been. Some chocolate contain artificial sweeteners

Lastly, "chocolate for diabetes" contains artificial sweeteners. The artificial sweeteners added into "Chocolate for diabetes" are very known neurotoxins. They also cause the same hormonal imbalance from consuming other sugary foods. Also found that studies have shown that insulin could be secreted in response to sweet-tasting beverages, irrespective of whether they contain table sugar. Natural sweeteners are by far healthier and safer than artificial sweeteners. But many manufacturers still use artificial sweeteners to make chocolate for diabetes. Against the risk of obesity Undeniable that obesity is one risk factor for degenerative diseases. But a study at Harvard University shows that if you balance the consumption of chocolate candy with enough physical activity and eat a balanced diet, then the negative effects of chocolate candy need not worry. .Kidney stones Brown needs to look out for, especially for people who are prone to suffer kidney stones. 100 g chocolate consumption will increase the excretion of calcium oxalate and tripled. Therefore healthy tips that can be recommended is to drink plenty of water after eating chocolate. Unfortunately, some facts have shown that chocolate is not as healthy as intended. First of all, dairy products added to chocolate inhibit the absorption of nutrients. Some studies indicate that ingesting dairy products hinders the absorption of the nutrients of cocoa. Eating milk chocolate would just be taking in empty calories. Besides that, the antioxidant level is not raised. It is even lowered in certain cases. Drinking dairy products while eating chocolate also result in the same effect. This lowers the nutritional value of chocolate. A great example of a type of chocolate stripped of its health properties is the white chocolate. White chocolate does not have any cocoa bean content. The cocoa beans are the main source of nutrients for chocolate. Without the cocoa bean, white chocolate only has a high content of fats from both cocoa butter and milk fat. This makes white chocolate the least healthy choice of chocolate.

Different types of chocolate 1.Pure chocolate is unsweetened chocolate, especially chocolate contains cocoa solids and cocoa butter in various proportions. It also most chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, the combination of chocolate with sugar.

2. Milk chocolate sweetis chocolate with added milk powder or condensed milk, or used in the call "Whith chocolate" contains cocoa butter, sugar, and milk but no cocoa solids. 3. Dark chocolate serves as chocolate health benefits, because it has antioxidants in large quantities and can reduce free radical formation. Dark chocolate also has functions to reduce the possibility of a heart attack when consumed regularly in a small amount. 4. White chocolate is formed from a mixture of sugar, cocoa butter and milk solids. Although texture is similar to milk and dark chocolate, but white chocolate contains no cocoa solids. Therefore, many countries do not regard as entirely white chocolate. Because not contain cocoa solids, white chocolate does not contain theobromine, which means it can be consumed by animals. 5. Semisweet chocolate is a dark brown with a low sugar content. Bittersweet chocolate namely chocolate in form of liquor given a little sugar, with more cocoa butter, vanilla and sometimes lecithin has been added. Chocolate is also less sugar and alcohol. 6.Unsweetened chocolate is pure chocolate liquor, also known as bitter or baking chocolate. This is pure chocolate: pure, ground, roasted cacao beans instill strong chocolate taste

Conclusion Based on the evidence discussed, I strongly believe that chocolate is healthy. The types of chocolate which have low cacao content and high sugar content, such as milk chocolate or white chocolate, should be avoided. Chocolate myths should also stop spreading. This way, more people can know that chocolate is actually beneficial. The government and non-government organizations should do their part in educating the public about the health benefits of chocolate. This way our country's cocoa industry can improve. I believe that we can gain the health benefits of chocolate if we eat it in moderation and choose the right kind of chocolate, such as dark chocolate.