Xocai - Perfect Combination Video

Prevent future threats to chocolate plantations

In the 1990s witches' broom disease (WBD), believed to have been introduced by humans, ripped its way through the main Brazilian cocoa region of Bahia, leaving 200,000 without work and decimating cacao supplies. As a result, in 10 years Brazil has gone from being the world's second-largest exporter of cocoa beans to a net importer.

Research programmes funded by the Brazilian government, including an attempt to sequence the genes of the pathogen, are aiming to shed light on this notoriously difficult disease that is proving extremely tricky to solve. But according to Dr. Gareth Griffith, a plant pathologist at the University of Wales, a risk assessment should be carried out as soon as possible.


"I feel that this has been disregarded as a small risk, but we need to learn from past mistakes. Improved travel links and world trade could allow fungal infections to spread to uninfected regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast," the scientist told FoodNavigator.com.

Threat to Chocolate Plantations

Hanging as a persistent threat to the chocolate industry witches' broom disease is capable of wiping out entire cacao crops and sending the price of chocolate rocketing. Despite ongoing research into the threat confirmed by the chocolate industry, a UK scientist warns this week that more needs to be done to assess the risk of this fungal disease - that has swept through South America - from spreading to West Africa, the primary cacao growing region.

Dr. Mary Engler

Chocolate has always had a bad rap because of the high calories and the fat content, but forty percent of the chocolate is represented as mono and saturate fat - oleic acid - which can lower LDL, or the bad cholesterol. The other sixty percent consists of thirty-five percent of stearic acid, which is cholesterol neutral.

In Response to Comment on Crester for Cholesterol

I'm glad you found a prescription drug that helped your eyesight. But chocolate is none prescription and has no known side effects. Crester however does have a few side effects, these include muscle pain, constipation, nausea, and weakness. You need to inform your healthcare provider about before you take Crestor are heart disease, kidney disease, and liver disease or liver failure. To reduce the chances of drug interactions, you should also let your healthcare provider know about all of the medicines you currently take.

Is it really worth the risk I know which I would rather try! check out this link Crester

University of Notingham - Chocolate May Lower Blood Pressure

Having a morsel of chocolate every day - May lower blood pressure levels and lead to clinically important reductions for cardiovascular diseases, suggests a new study. Results of the randomised, controlled, parallel-group trial, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, involved 44 adults with pre- (BP 130/85 - 139/89) or stage one hypertension (BP 140/90 - 160/100), suggest that a daily serving of dark chocolate containing 30 calories associated with a lowering of blood pressure.

http://research.nottingham.ac.uk/NewsReviews/newsDisplay.aspx?id=309

Lose Weight with Chocolate?

For many people, chocolate's brain benefits extend to then suppression of appetite and weight control. this may also help to elevate mood in the long term, as excess weight and obesity are often causes of depression. Several theories explain how chocolate might aid in weight loss;

It provides the appropriate amount of vitamins and minerals the body needs thus decreasing the urges for added fuel.

Dr Mary Engler - Why Dark Chocolate is Best

Dr Mary Engler explains why Dark chocolate is better than Milk chocolate and why we risk losing antioxidant benefits by adding milk to cocoa.

This video is long but she does go through everything thoroughly as she is an expert in
her field.

Studies on Cocoa

A recent study from Japanese researchers supports the idea of chocolate being a weight control tool, finding that regular consumption of cocoa was able to prevent obesity and weight gain in animal subjects. The study showed that the body weight and flood lipid levels wee significantly lower in the cocoa fed group than in the control group.
Analysis also showed that in the cocoa diet group, metabolism and storage of fats was restricted and the fat burning mechanism was increased.

Chronic Inflammation

Cocoa's flavonoid content can relieve inflammation. Chronic inflammation is associated with low leptin levels, which increases appetite. In addition cortisol levels increase with elevated inflammatory chemicals that start to break down muscles, deposit fat in cells and fuel the appetite.