Gonna feed Peter some cocoa right this minute...

[dianeduane]

Boy, did G. K. Chesterton ever lose this round.

Dutch research suggests that eating or drinking cocoa appears to lower blood pressure and even reduce the death risks for older men.

...The researchers found that over a 15-year period, men who ate cocoa -- including chocolate -- regularly had significantly lower blood pressure compared with those who didn't.

The sweet treat might even help ward off death. The researchers reported that 314 men died over the course of the study, with 152 of those deaths blamed on heart disease. Men who consumed the highest amount of cocoa were half as likely to die from cardiovascular disease, compared to men who ate little or no cocoa, the team found. In addition, men who ate the most cocoa were less likely to die from any causes.

...[the researcher] stressed that cocoa's heart-healthy benefits only come from bittersweet dark chocolate and in concentrated cocoa beverages, which contain an effective dose of antioxidants, along with magnesium, arginine and fiber.

"This is not the case for milk chocolate, which contains potentially harmful saturated fats, or candy bars that dilute cocoa with a long list of other ingredients," he said.

Peter will be disappointed that Mars bars definitely fall into this category.

...Anyway, forget Chesterton's cranky poem: possibly this news will stir someone into writing another celebration of cocoa like the one that Stanley Sharpless came up with half a century ago and more. He saw an article on cocoa's effects as a mild aphrodisiac, and produced the following:

Half past nine -- high time for supper;
'Cocoa, love?' 'Of course, my dear.'
Helen thinks it quite delicious,
John prefers it now to beer.
Knocking back the sepia potion,
Hubby winks, says, 'Who's for bed?'
'Shan't be long,' says Helen softly,
Cheeks a faintly flushing red.
For they've stumbled on the secret
Of a love that never wanes,
Rapt beneath the tumbled bedclothes,
Cocoa coursing through their veins.

Tags: cocoa, chocolate, health benefits, Stanley Sharpless, G. K. Chesterton

Comments

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

Does Peter not like dark chocolate, then? Or is it the comfort food aspect of the Mars he loves?

[dduane.livejournal.com]

No, he's a milk chocolate type. I guess this makes us a mixed marriage. :)

He just likes the Mars bars for the insides, I think. But this may start to change. I saw him frowning at one of the "giant size" ones the other day, and he looked up at me and said, in the kind of voice that people normally use to announce the arrival of a supervillain in the neighborhood, "These things are getting smaller."

(headshake) The Mars people should know better than to give an Ulsterman the idea that he's getting less for his money than they want him to think. ;)

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

In one of his books, Stephen Jay Gould did a graph of size of <some US candy bar> against time over some decades. The point being that putting the price up is commercially undesirable, yet the manufacturers have to pay higher prices for the materials. So, the size drops.

Eventually, a newer, 'giant' bar comes in for those who find the old bar now too small. Rinse, repeat, ad infinitum.

Gould was actually making a point about evolution at the time, but that doesn't make his observation invalid.

So, Peter prefers Milk Chocolate. And he likes his steaks well done. At least he's got good taste in some areas.

Well, if he doesn't like Dark Chocolate, then that's all the more for you.

[nelka35.livejournal.com]

yeah... ))

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

What He Said. The candy-bar analysis was just about word-for-word what I was going to write, so now I don't need to!

[amberdulen.livejournal.com]

That is an excellent poem.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

It's a sweetie, isn't it? I had to do some hunting to find it, as I could only remember the last line, and the author's name had completely eluded me.

The other thing I could just barely remember was the line "Cocoa is a cad..." I was shocked to see how bad-tempered (and let's not forget un-PC, though Chesterton was just another child of his times) the other cocoa poem was. (eyeroll) How someone who was sometimes so right could sometimes be so wrong... Ah well.

[hypatia.livejournal.com]

Chesterton was just another child of his times

True, and I think that he was often very perceptive in his characters and descriptions of people. I'm a fan of his writing for all the curmudgeonly chauvanism.
I can identify with his relative value system for tea, red wine and soda water...
As for cocoa - this from the nation who export Chocomel! And chocolate should be dark, Mars bars are possibly the least attractive chocolate incarnation yet devised so I guess Peter can have my ration of those and I'll just have all the red stuff, that has some of the same chemicals :-)