Charlie wrote:
>
> http://www.click2houston.com/theweir...55/detail.html
>
> Top 10 Signs You Are A Chocoholic

LOL!

> 3. The only reason you want to save the rain forest is to save the
> cocoa tree.
>

article points out cocoa tree - rain forest relationship in the last paragraph:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...ldschocoholics

A Heart-Healthy Affirmation for the World's Chocoholics
Wed Feb 11, 7:55 AM ET - Los Angeles Times via Yahoo! By Jon Marino Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Rather than using those dark delights to win the heart
of another on Valentine's Day, chocolate lovers may want to take that
beribboned box home to improve their own.

Experts gathered Tuesday at the National Academy of Sciences to
discuss the cocoa-based confection, which contains chemicals, called
flavanols, shown to improve blood flow and reduce blood pressure.

The 2004 Cocoa Symposium — sponsored by UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, the
National Institutes of Health, the Department of Health and Human Services
and Mars Inc., the candy manufacturer — also examined ways to prevent
disease in cacao plants, which produce the seeds that make chocolate and
encourage the cultivation of the plants as a solution for depleting
tropical vegetation.

The potential health effects of flavanols were discovered two years ago,
when studies of blood vessel function compared individuals who ate Dove
dark chocolate — which has high levels of the chemicals — to those
who ate chocolate with a lower amount of flavanols.

Mars, Dove's manufacturer, used that research as the basis for
CocoaVia, a low-fat, flavanol-rich snack that is being test-marketed and
is currently only available online. An 80-calorie bar, which contains 100
milligrams of flavanols, is the first step toward creating a truly healthful
chocolate, said Harold Schmitz, director of science at Mars.

While recognizing the potential health benefits of chocolate, scientists
also have noted that most commercially produced chocolate contains
high levels of fats and sugars — which could negate the beneficial
effects.

"Most of the chocolate currently available is delightful and delicious, but
it's not a health food," said Norman Hollenberg, a professor of medicine
at Harvard Medical School. "But it's imminent, it's coming," he said
of flavanol-enriched chocolates.

Ten years of research, dozens of reviews in scientific journals and
millions of dollars — no precise amount was given — have shown that
through proper growing, fermenting, roasting and processing, healthful
chocolate can be distilled, Schmitz said. Because Mars is privately held,
he said, it can do research that investors in a publicly traded firm might
consider wasteful. Flavanols also are found in apples and other
plant-based products such as wine and green tea.

The scientists also examined diseases in cacao plants, which cost the
industry up to $1 billion annually. Molecular modification, said Raymond
J. Schnell, supervisory research geneticist at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (news - web sites), has the potential to make cocoa plants
more resistant to disease; naturally occurring fungi could also protect.

Additionally, research conducted through a public/private partnership
including UC Davis, Harvard University and the World Bank (news - web
sites) has shown that family farmers in tropical regions can benefit from
growing cacao while replenishing rain forests. Central and South
American nations have most of the world's cacao production, but African
and Southeast Asian countries contribute as well. "The goal is to get out
of poverty, and to do so in a way that is environmentally benign," said
the World Bank's James Bond.

--

Ken McM.