Chocolate and Health: Chemistry, Nutrition and Therapy
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Chocolate and Health: Chemistry, Nutrition and Therapy
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Overview
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.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781782625056 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| Publication date: | 05/05/2015 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 246 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
Read an Excerpt
Chocolate and Health
Chemistry, Nutrition and Therapy
By Philip K. Wilson, W. Jeffrey Hurst
The Royal Society of Chemistry
Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society of ChemistryAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-78262-505-6
CHAPTER 1
Chocolate in Science, Nutrition and Therapy: An Historical Perspective
PHILIP K. WILSON
Department of History, East Tennessee State University, Box 70672, Johnson City, Tennessee, USA, 37614-1709 Email:wilsonpk@etsu.edu
The Chocolate Tree supplied the "raw product for a most delicious, healthy and nourishing drink".
Carl Linnaeus, the 18th-Century Physician who classified this tree with the name Theoboroma cacao
1.1 Introduction
As culinary and healing arts schools are increasingly combining efforts to promote an enhanced understanding of and practices around the theme of "food as medicine", chocolate remains at the core of this discourse. This volume, Chocolate and Health: Chemistry, Nutrition and Therapy, provides a snapshot in time identifying major areas whereby key bioactive ingredients of chocolate are being increasingly scrutinized to ascertain possibilities and potentials. Of course, snapshots never completely reveal the total scene, though together they can provide something of a synthesis of the total landscape. Over time, current investigations will provide the historical rendering of the nutritional and biomedical pursuits of the early 21st century. As in all science-based research, some leads from previous times meet roadblocks, thereby diverging efforts onto entirely different paths. Just where chocolate will be featured in nutrition, health and therapy by the middle of the century is unknowable. Still, the pursuit to that eventual placement needs a starting point. This volume serves, among other uses, as that point. Although this chapter's focus is intentionally historical, the references cited throughout this volume provide the respective chapter authors with springboards of earlier work from which to frame their own interpretations and research protocols. As such, they too provide selective historical cornerstones from which the authors' modern accounts are construed.
To better place the following chapters within an historical context, this brief introduction aims to help readers fully appreciate the relatively long-standing quest to identify, validate and promote chocolate's potential in fulfilling nutritional needs, improving health and preventing disease. This historical introduction produces a broader framework for the themes addressed in following chapters. The brief synopsis that follows describes centuries of nutritional and medicinal associations with cacao and chocolate in a manner that corresponds with the three sections of this volume, namely science, nutrition and health. Though considerable history has been noted to be foundational for this volume, much of chocolate's luscious heritage has, alas, been neglected. Readers who wish to delve further into this historical quest are referred to Philip K. Wilson and W. Jeffrey Hurst's Chocolate as Medicine: A Quest over the Centuries, as well as a number of other recent writings by authors or editors including Sophie D. and Michael D. Coe; Teresa L. Dillinger et al.; Meredith L. Dreiss and Sharon Edgar Greenhill; Martha Makra Graziano; Louis Evan Grivetti and Howard Yana Shapiro; Donatella Lippi; Murdo J. MacLeod; Cameron L. McNeil; Marcia and Frederic Morton; Sarah Moss and Alexander Badenoch; Deanna Pucciarelli and James Barrett; and David Wolfe and Shazzie.
Of all the products to emerge from the diversity of the tropical rain forest, none approaches the universal appeal and popularity of chocolate.
Allen M. Young, Tropical Rainforest Zoologist and Museum Coordinator
1.2 Chocolate in Science
The chocolate tree's official name, Theobroma cacao (food of the gods), acknowledges both scientific and sacred associations with this plant. The chocolate we consume derives from one of three cacao bean varieties: forastero (foreign born) being the most common variety, which supplies up to 90% of the global use; criollo (native born), which, being more rare, is used in preparing what many deem the finest of chocolates; and trinitario (sent from heaven), being a hybrid of the other two varieties.
Though "chocolate" is commonly referred to in a general sense, several distinctions should be noted. Chocolate itself is the main processed by-product of the cacao bean (or nib or cotyledon). Cacao, the species of the Theobroma cacao plant, is typically used in reference to the tree, pod or bean, whereas cocoa refers to the powder made from the processed bean.
Pods of the chocolate tree — historically referred to as oro negro (black gold) or pepe de oro (seeds of gold) — have long been highly valued and laboriously harvested with machetes or purposefully made cutlasses on long poles. Processing the nibs within the pods has also required intensive skilled labor. The Maya would pound the nibs with stones called manos against a hard-surfaced metate, facilitating the process by adding a heat source underneath (Figure 1.1).
This treasured plant of the New World found its way to the Old World via Hernán Cortés in 1528, with more regular transport after 1585. In these new surrounds, modifications in its use ensued over the centuries. Among the most crucial modifications that revolutionized the industrial processing of chocolate employed James Watts' steam engine in the place of Mayan muscle. An even greater contribution, so David G. Mitchell argued, was the later introduction of commercial refrigeration: "No longer was the [chocolate] industry limited as to geographical location for the longest spell of cool weather; neither was it limited to operation only during the cool season of the year".
In time, further industrialization efforts focused on improving the physical processes of roasting (adding flavor and color), winnowing (separating nibs from their outer husks), milling and conching (kneading in the traditionally shell-shaped machines, together with aerating machines, to increase smoothness, viscosity and flavor), as well as chemically treating components along the production line (e.g., alkalinizing or "Dutching") to enhance the proper solubility, flavor and color.
In areas surrounding the chocolate tree's natural habitat, select members of Olmec, Maya, Zapotec, Mixtec, Toltec and Aztec cultures claimed nutritional and medicinal benefits of their specially prepared ka-ka-wa (Olmec)- or cacao (Maya)-based drink preparations. Over the centuries, our refined understanding of the chocolate tree has shown that its delectable product requires delicate care throughout the agricultural enterprise. In order to prosper, cacao needs biologically rich and diverse growing areas. The equatorial rainforests provide optimal agronomic conditions, though enhancing its cultivation requires constant attention to planting, pollination, pruning and protection. The significant amount of shade that the chocolate tree requires has been appreciated for centuries.
Accompanying the first known engraved illustration (Figure 1.2) of this tree in Giralamo Benzoni's La Historia del Mondo (1565) is an inscription that, in translation, informs us that the chocolate tree
grows only in hot places, but under shade, for if the sun were to shine on it, it would die. Therefore, they plant it in forests where it is humid, and, afraid that this is not enough, they plant it next to a tree which is higher and which they bend over it, spreading its top so that it covers the cocoa tree, which thus gets shade all over it, so that the sun no longer does any harm.
Only later was this thick rainforest canopy found to widely support the growth of the Ceratopogonid (biting) and Cecidomyiid (gall) midges (family Diptera) that consume nectar from and simultaneously pollinate the tiny pink blossoms of the chocolate tree. Each pollinated blossom subsequently produces small cherelles that, upon maturation, form the characteristic rugby ball-shaped pods. Given that not all cherelles from the same cluster of blossoms mature simultaneously, extra care is needed during harvesting.
Adding to these agronomic needs are efforts to overcome the diseases to which the chocolate tree is most susceptible. Among this tree's predominant predatory pests are the brown and black capsids (Sahlbergella singularis and Distantiella theobroma, respectively), both of which damage inner tissue by feeding on the sap. The fungi Phytophthora megakarya and Moniliophthora roreri induce black pod rot and frosty pod rot, respectively, whereas the broom-like fungal growths of Moniliophthora (Crinipellis) perniciosa (commonly known as witches' broom) — first reported in Surinam in 1895 — destroy chocolate tree leaf buds, flowers and pods. Pod-boring moths (Conopomorpha cramerella) are also known to damage bean development, and mealybugs (Planococcoides njalensis) serve as the vector for introducing the cacao swollen shoot virus (family Caulimoviridae, genus Badnavirus), which primarily produce stem and root swelling types of destruction. Problems created by cacao or cocoa thrips (Selenothrips rubrocinctus), the "enxerto" ant (Azteca paraensis var. bondari) and various stem-attacking beetles are considerable, as are losses attributed to rats, squirrels, birds and parasitic plants.
Though many of these plant–pathogen connections were identified in the late 1800s or early 1900s, their wrath became particularly apparent with the "neglect of the [cacao] plantations" during World War II. Following the war, "when demand again rose, it was found that there was a definite shortage of cocoa beans". Consequently, the prices of all chocolate products "rose markedly" for a few years. Once chocolate tree diseases were more stringently addressed, chocolate supply rose to approximate the demand and, in 1949, the rationing allocation that had been instituted by the Internal Emergency Food Committee during the war was finally revoked.
More recently, agroforestry efforts have aimed at establishing more sustainable cacao farming, often in regions beyond cacao's natural habitat. In particular, alterations at the genetic level are being explored in the hopes of increasing plant resistance to disease and producing higher-yield varieties of cacao. These efforts are, in turn, "increasingly threatened" by deforestation measures including farming, grazing, logging and mining — all of which are being touted as responsible measures of "agricultural expansion". Chocolate, which has long held seemingly mystical and magical properties, may have yet another seemingly "magical" role to play in regards to agronomy. It may very well be the increased demand for this precious product that consequently leads to major efforts in saving the natural diversity of rainforest regions.
So, just where are these cacao-growing regions? The first cacao plantations were established in Brazil in 1745, and this region continues to be recognized for its cacao crop. By the early 1800s, cacao was predominantly grown in Central and South America and the West Indies. A century later, African smallholdings and farms had become the predominant growing areas, especially within the rainforest lands of the then-named Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Ivory Coast. Since then, Malaysia has also become an increasingly important growing region.
As no other product truly mimics the multifaceted cacao, it has become a widely traded commodity since its introduction on the New York Cocoa Exchange in 1925. Only recently, however, have large chocolate companies began devoting significant attention towards acknowledging the rights, welfare and health of laborers whose livelihoods ultimately provide the world with such pleasures of the palate.
The cacao bean is a phenomenon, for nowhere else has nature concentrated such wealth of valuable nourishment in so small a space.
Alexander von Humboldt, 19th-Century Natural Philosopher and Explorer Extraordinaire
1.3 Chocolate as Nutrition
"In its many forms chocolate may be consumed as a beverage, a syrup, a flavoring, a coating or a confection itself", so Norman Potter noted in Food Science (1973). But does chocolate have an even greater nutritional value than this comment suggests? Chocolate remains, as tropical rainforest zoologist Allen M. Young claimed, a "gustatory bond between past and present peoples". Indigenous among New World peoples, chocolate was transported to the Old World then back to North America, thereby forming a "bridge between two very distinct spheres of humankind". In terms of nutrition, Old World peoples viewed chocolate as providing "the greatest delicacy for extraordinary entertainments". Speculation about its nutritional value can be based upon an early recipe for drinking chocolate that Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma reported in the first book devoted entirely to chocolate, Curioso Tratado de la Naturaleza y Calidad del Chocolate (1631).
Of cacaos 700 (beans)
Of white sugar, one pound and a halfe
Cinnamon 2 ounces
Of long red peppers 14
Of cloves, halfe an ounce (the best writers use them not)
Three Cods of the Logwood or Campeche tree. These Cods are very good, and smell like Fennell.
[O]r instead of that the Weight of 2 Reals or a shilling of Anniseeds [sic]. As much of Achiote as will give it colour which is about the quantity of a hasell-nut [sic].
Indeed, reputable sources over the centuries have identified the "goodness" of chocolate in terms of food and nutrition. Centuries ago, writers frequently offered opinions on cacao's nutritive value, though their opinions often "differed greatly". Beginning in the mid-19th century, as one early bibliographer of chocolate and nutrition noted, "a greater uniformity of opinion" was found, and writers grew "more and more in accord" regarding its specific nutritional aspects. Consider, for example, the following appellations to chocolate as a food drawn from professional literature worldwide published within the last 150 years.
In recent years, chocolate's value in terms of food and nutrition has been regularly highlighted.
Such passages attest to the long-standing acknowledgement of chocolate's nutritive value. In order to meaningfully appreciate this significance, a working definition of nutrition is helpful. Among the various definitions available, that provided in The Concise Encyclopedia of Foods & Nutrition (1995) contains many points common to other characterizations. There, nutrition is defined as "the science of food and its nutrients and their relation to health". Using this broad definition, all of the chapters in this volume address some important aspect of chocolate as nutrition. Questions remain, however, in determining more precisely what type(s) of food chocolate represents and what specifically are chocolate's key nutritive values.
In 1953, Eileen M. Chatt of the British Food Manufacturing Industries Research Association explained that chocolate lacked "accessory factors" whereby it "f[e]ll short of being a perfect food". Still, it was deemed to be a "satisfactory base for the incorporation of supplementary vitamins". Similar language is evident in earlier 20th-Century initiatives into the developing language of food nutrition as a science. As the following select areas of cacao and chocolate research demonstrate, the quest for specialized nutritive knowledge regarding chocolate was underway nearly a century ago. These research areas are drawn from Stroud Jordan's contemporary review of the literature of that period, a work designed "in order that some of the lesser known and understood results will be [made] available" to the greater chocolate manufacturing community.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Chocolate and Health by Philip K. Wilson, W. Jeffrey Hurst. Copyright © 2015 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Excerpted by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry.
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