Chocolate—divine food, fattening junk or nutritious supplementation?

Rössner, Stephan

doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600409

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 14 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, the Olmecs, and eventually the Mayans and Aztecs, consumed food and beverages produced from cocoa, which was considered a divine food and was reserved for ritualistic and medicinal purposes [2]. It was not until the 16th century that cocoa was introduced into Europe by Hernán Cortés and, three centuries later, Conrad van Houten developed cocoa powder as we know it today [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cocoa‐enriched diets modulate intestinal and systemic humoral immune response in young adult rats

Pérez-Berezo

Franch

Ramos-Romero

et al. 2011

Molecular Nutrition Food Res

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cocoa‐enriched diets modulate intestinal and systemic humoral immune response in young adult rats

Pérez-Berezo

Franch

Ramos-Romero

et al. 2011

Molecular Nutrition Food Res

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“…by ancient civilizations such as the Mayans and Aztecs (Hurst et al, 2002). In the 16th century cocoa was introduced into Europe by Hernan Cortes and, three centuries later, Conrad van Houten developed cocoa powder as we know it today (Dillinger et al, 2000, Rössner, 1997. Cocoa powder is a rich source of fiber (26-40 %), proteins (15-20 %), carbohydrates (about 15 %) and lipids (10-24%) and it contains minerals and vitamins ).…”

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confidence: 99%

Potential for preventive effects of cocoa and cocoa polyphenols in cancer

Martín

Goya

Ramos

2013

Food and Chemical Toxicology

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Prevention of cancer through the diet is receiving increasing interest, and cocoa because of its polyphenolic compounds has become an important potential chemopreventive and therapeutic natural agent. Cocoa and its main polyphenols have been reported to interfere at the initiation, promotion and progression of cancer. Cocoa flavonoids have been demonstrated to influence several important biological functions in vitro and in vivo by their free radical scavenging ability or through the regulation of signal transduction pathways to stimulate apoptosis and to inhibit inflammation, cellular proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and metastasis.Nevertheless, these molecular mechanisms of action are not completely characterized and many features remain to be elucidated. The aim of this review is to provide insights into the molecular basis of the potential chemopreventive activity of cocoa and its polyphenolic components by summarizing cell culture and animal models studies, as well as interventional and epidemiological studies on humans.Keywords: Cocoa, cancer, inflammation, antioxidant defenses, cell death, survival/proliferation pathways.3 Highlights -Cocoa promotes changes in redox-sensitive signaling pathways involved in the expression of many genes and cell functions.-Cocoa may prevent chronic inflammatory response and oxidative damage and thus affect carcinogenesis.-Cocoa has been demonstrated to increase serum antioxidant status and apoptosis of cancer cells, theoretically reducing cancer risk.-Research to date suggests that moderate cocoa or dark chocolate consumption may reduce cancer risks. 4 1.-IntroductionCarcinogenesis is generally a slow process and often takes decades from tumor initiation to diagnosis, offering a considerable time frame for chemopreventive approaches.Chemoprevention is defined as the use of specific natural (dietary) or synthetic agents to prevent, delay, or slow the carcinogenic process (Kelloff et al., 2006). Accumulating epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that a high consumption of fruits and vegetables and the intake of certain non-nutrients that are present in foods reduce the risk of different cancers (Ramos, 2008, Surh, 2003. Therefore, the identification of dietary components as potential cancer chemopreventive agents in the form of functional foods or nutraceuticals has become an essential subject for study in current research. This is the case for polyphenols, natural dietary compounds present in fruits and vegetables, which have attracted a great deal of interest because of their potential ability to act as highly effective chemopreventive agents (Ramos, 2008). In addition, the low toxicity and the very few adverse side effects linked to polyphenols consumption give them potential advantages.Cocoa, the dried and fermented seeds derived from Theobroma cacao, has been consumed since 1100 B.C. by ancient civilizations such as the Mayans and Aztecs (Hurst et al., 2002). In the 16th century cocoa was introduced into Europe by Hernan Cortes and, three centuri...

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“…Furthermore, consumption of a palm-based diet was recently shown to reduce lowdensity lipoprotein levels (Voon et al, 2011). Despite young consumers seeking fat-reduced options when purchasing food (Do et al, 2008), this has traditionally not been an issue with confections since they are typically consumed in small quantities as treats (Rössner, 1997).…”

Section: Production and Usementioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of sugar on the processing behaviour of palm oil: from confectionery fundamentals to predictive regression models

West¹

2021

Preprint

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This dissertation explores the impact of confectioner’s sugar and processing on key physical characteristics of palm oil. Though bulk oils such as palm oil have been well-studied, fat-continuous dispersions that include other ingredients such as sugar, cocoa solids, or milk powder are much more complex due to ingredient interactions and the resulting changes in properties such as fat crystal morphology and crystallization pathway. These implications restrict the ability to extrapolate responses from bulk oils towards multi-ingredient systems. This is particularly important given that palm oil in foods rarely exists in bulk but is usually mixed with multiple ingredients. The effects of processing on both bulk oil and oil-sugar blends were explored over four weeks of storage and clearly demonstrated that the existence of a dispersion resulted in large differences in rheology and texture compared to the bulk. Adding sugar significantly increased storage modulus and firmness of the oils while exhibiting increased sensitivity towards processing conditions. Predictive models were generated through multiple regression analysis that overcame limitations derived from extrapolation and corrected for these behavioural differences using a single binary variable accounting for the presence of confectioner’s sugar. As a result, the contributions of sugar to the rheology and texture of oil-sugar blends were modelled, a first in such systems. The results contained within this dissertation are of great industrial relevance as they: i) limit the dependence on anecdote and empiricism to explain results, ii) generate detailed process maps, iii) identify optimal process values to attain desirable rheological and textural responses, and iv) open the door for further investigation into dispersion effects.

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Chocolate—divine food, fattening junk or nutritious supplementation?

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Cocoa‐enriched diets modulate intestinal and systemic humoral immune response in young adult rats

Cocoa‐enriched diets modulate intestinal and systemic humoral immune response in young adult rats

Potential for preventive effects of cocoa and cocoa polyphenols in cancer

The effect of sugar on the processing behaviour of palm oil: from confectionery fundamentals to predictive regression models

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