Thursday, December 26, 2002


magical remedy

fans of harry potter know that chocolate is an anodyne for magical afflictions. the long-suffering madame pomfrey, nurse at hogwart's, often rushes into the room with large blocks of chocolate and a hammer to quickly crack off enough of the healing stuff in cases of dire emergency.

as for real life ills, science does appear to move closer everyday to understanding how the phytochemicals in cocoa help us. that some of this research is funded by chocolate firms themselves should come as no surprise in our age of reduced government funds for basic medical studies.

and while i often report on the results of health studies concerning cocoa, i have also noted if a study is funded by a chocolate company. sometimes, if the research team seems not of the highest caliber, this may make a difference.

in cases where the studies are conducted by scientists with long and well-established public records who work at top schools, it probably has less impact on the work. this is the reason i always try to link to the original study or to web pages offering the biography of the research team leader, so you can judge for yourself the record of his or her work.

this reflection was brought to my attention again today by a recent article decrying the number of studies being financed by the mars firm. it's true that the general mars product is mostly unhealthy sugar.

long-time readers know that i personally advocate eating only 1 - 1.5 oz. of high-quality, lecithin-free, vanillin-free, artisanal dark chocolate in the 60%-plus range every day. quite a small amount -- usually only 1/3 or less of the average premium bar. moderation is key here, after all!

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