I love chocolate as much as the next person, but that does not necessarily mean I should be eating it on a daily basis.  Or does it?  The New York Times recently reported on a study completed by Louisiana State in which researchers mocked a human digestive system in glass containers, one containing an imitation of the stomach and small intestine, the other resembling the large intestine.  When cocoa powder was added to the “digestive system,” with the stomach and small intestine, some of the flavonols, or supposedly natural reducers of disease,  were digested, while a significant amount were not.

Following the stomach and small intestine process, the “colon” digested the remnants of cocoa into metabolites that could then be soaked up into the bloodstream, and potentially reduce heart or cardiac inflammation.  The remaining undigested cocoa powder then began to ferment, a process that discharges materials that help in lowering or improving cholesterol levels.

The main point to be seen here is that cocoa powder was used in place of chocolate, or an actual chocolate bar.  Andrew Neilson, a professor at Virginia Tech, advises not to eat a chocolate bar a day, that the chocolate myth does not give us an excuse to do so.  To my, and much of society’s dismay, apparently an allotment of chocolate a day does not keep the pounds away.

Reynolds, Gretchen. “Why Chocolate Is Good for Us.” Well Why Chocolate Is Good for Us Comments. New York Times, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 16 Sept. 2014.