Health
While hot chocolate is generally consumed for pleasure, there are several potential health benefits associated with drinking hot chocolate. A 2003 study from Cornell University found that cocoa contains large amounts of antioxidants that may help prevent cancer. Also, the Cocoa Bean has demonstrated evidence that it helps with digestion. From the 16th to 19th centuries, hot chocolate was valued as a medicine as well as a drink. The explorer Francisco Hernández wrote that chocolate beverages helped treat fever and liver disease. Another explorer, Santiago de Valverde Turices, believed that large amounts of hot chocolate were helpful in treating chest ailments and that smaller amounts could help stomach disorders. When chocolate was introduced to the French in the 17th century, it was reportedly used "to fight against fits of anger and bad moods", which may be attributed to chocolate's phenylethylamine content. Today, hot chocolate is consumed for pleasure rather than medicinally, but new research suggests that there may be other health benefits attributed to the drink.
On the other hand, several negative effects can be attributed to drinking hot chocolate. Some hot chocolate recipes contain high amounts of sugar.
Read more about this topic: Hot Chocolate
Famous quotes containing the word health:
“Woman ... cannot be content with health and agility: she must make exorbitant efforts to appear something that never could exist without a diligent perversion of nature. Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate?”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)
“No one ever promised me it would be easy and it’s not. But I also get many rewards from seeing my children grow, make strong decisions for themselves, and set out on their own as independent, strong, likeable human beings. And I like who I am becoming, too. Having teenagers has made me more human, more flexible, more humble, more questioning—and, finally it’s given me a better sense of humor!”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 4 (1978)
“All climates agree with brave Chanticleer. He is more indigenous even than the natives. His health is ever good, his lungs are sound, his spirits never flag.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)