AJM
MCHS
Chemistry
Ma. Elka R. Bungay
11
Kelsey-Marie G. Carlos
12
III-1
11/10/08
Chocolate Drink Shield
Chocolates are known for its sweet, creamy, and cocoa-rich flavor. It comes in
different types like the white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, bittersweet
chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate. There are also a lot of
variations included in chocolates like mint, orange, and strawberry flavors. Whatever one
eats, be it kids of all ages and adults, everyone loves chocolate because it acts as their
comfort food, anti-depressant, and energy booster.
Registered dietitians and nutritionists would not recommend daily intake of
sweets such as chocolates since it is found on the topmost part of the food pyramid.
Although most chocolates would contain a lot of calories, dark chocolates inhibiting
flavonoids have about 50 calories compared to whooping 400 to 500 calories of other
types of chocolates. Now there are more reasons why one can eat chocolates freely
without the guilt of getting fat.
Chocolate is just one of the latest discovery of antioxidant-rich foods having the
potential to shield skin from sun damage. These flavonoids, according to a group of
German researchers, fight against skin cancer. These are not just any type of chocolate
because its flavonoid quantities were similar to those found in 100 grams of dark
chocolate. Also, these chocolates are not found in the market and is only used by Mars,
Inc. Harold H. Schmitz, the company's chief science officer, funded for this experiment
and supplied the mysterious cocoa powder. Mars Inc. has retained nearly all of the natural
cocoa flavonoids compared to other companies who cooks and washes it out.
Wilhelm Stahl of Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf and his colleagues
conducted an experiment with a cocoa drink that has flavonoid, a natural plant-based
antioxidant. Their findings are said to be preliminary because it was taken by 24 women
between the ages of 18 and 65 for a period of 3 months. Before and after the experiment,
the Düsseldorf researchers conducted a host of tests on each woman. One type of
assessment done involves irradiating a woman’s skin with slightly more ultraviolet light
to know if her skin turns red and how red her skin is before conducting the experiment.
After that, each woman received a packet of a dry powder to mix each day with 100 mL
of hot water or half a cup. Half of them received packets with 329 mg of flavanols, a type
of flavonoid, per serving. While the other half received powder with 27 mg of flavanols
per serving. These were taken by women during breakfast time.
After the experiment, the skin of the women who received the flavonoid-rich
cocoa did not redden as much as the group of women who received a flavonoid-poor
drink or was lighter. Although the women who drank the flavonoid-poor drink, their
skin did not really change. Also, the group of women who got abundant flavonoids had a
smoother and moister skin than of the other group of women. Stahl’s team informs that
the women drinking the high-flavonoid cocoa had 15 percent less skin reddening from
UV light after 6 weeks of cocoa consumption and 25 percent less after 12 weeks of the
trial.
Most flavonoids absorb UV light and that is why it played a role in the skin
effects of women tested. What surprised the researchers is that it can also enhance skin
quality. Flavonoids were said to double the blood flow in the skin over the course of the
experiment in tissues 1 millimeter below the surface and increased by 37.5 percent in
tissue 7 to 8 mm deep. Mars' Schmitz agrees that "People don't think about it, but in
reality your skin, just like every other tissue, depends on healthy blood flow. And in our
previous work ... we showed that blood flow in the extremities—the finger tip—was
improved" in people receiving cocoa flavonoid with high contents. He hypothesized that
cocoa ingestion might not just improve health but including overall skin condition.
Sources:
Chocolate as Sunscreen. Janet Raloff. Oct. 2008.10 Nov. 2008.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/7437/title/Food_for_Thought__Choc
olate_as_Sunscreen