The sugar in chocolate is probably more harmful than the saturated
fat. Most of the saturated fat in dark chocolate is of a harmless
type. Drink that low fat cocoa beverage with sugar and much of the
health value is negated. Perhaps stevia could be used as a sweetener.


"pearl" > wrote in message >...
> AHHHH! BETTER THAN RED WINE OR GREEN TEA,
> COCOA FROTHS WITH CANCER-PREVENTING
> COMPOUNDS, CORNELL FOOD SCIENTISTS SAY
>
> Cornell News
> November 17, 2003
>
> ITHACA, N.Y. -- There is a new reason to enjoy hot cocoa on a
> cold winter's night in front of a cozy fire. Consider it a health drink.
>
> Beyond the froth, cocoa teems with antioxidants that prevent cancer,
> Cornell University food scientists say. Comparing the chemical
> anti-cancer activity in beverages known to contain antioxidants, they
> have found that cocoa has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine
> and up to three times those found in green tea.
>
> Their finding will be published Dec. 3 in the American Chemical Society's
> Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry , a peer-reviewed publication.
>
> Scientists have long known that cocoa contains antioxidants, but no one
> knew just how plentiful they were compared with those in red wine and
> green tea.
>
> The Cornell researchers, led by Chang Y. (Cy) Lee, chairman of the
> Department of Food Science and Technology at the university's New
> York State Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y., say the
> reason that cocoa leads the other drinks is its high content of
> compounds called phenolic phytochemicals, or flavonoids, indicating
> the presence of known antioxidants that can stave off cancer, heart
> disease and other ailments.
>
> They discovered 611 milligrams of the phenolic compound gallic acid
> equivalents (GAE) and 564 milligrams of the flavonoid epicatechin
> equivalents (ECE) in a single serving of cocoa.
>
> Examining a glass of red wine, the researchers found 340 milligrams of
> GAE and 163 milligrams of ECE. In a cup of green tea, they found
> 165 milligrams of GAE and 47 milligrams of ECE.
>
> "If I had made a prediction before conducting the tests, I would have
> picked green tea as having the most antioxidant activity," said Lee.
> "When we compared one serving of each beverage, the cocoa turned
> out to be the highest in antioxidant activity, and that was surprising to me."
>
> Phenolic compounds protect plants against insects and pathogens, and
> they remain active even after food processing. A decade ago "food
> scientists did not know that phenolics had an important role in human
> health," says Lee.
>
> Lee and his colleagues used two chemical tests that measured how well
> the cocoa compounds scavenge for free radicals -- agents that cause
> cancer, heart disease and other diseases.
>
> In the paper, the researchers discuss eating chocolate bars instead of
> drinking cocoa. "Although a bar of chocolate exhibits strong
> antioxidant activity, the health benefits are still controversial because
> of the saturated fats present, "the researchers write.
>
> They explain that cocoa has about one-third of a gram of fat per
> one-cup serving, compared with eight grams of fat in a standard-size
> 40-gram chocolate bar.
>
> Faced with the confusing prospect of drinking red wine or green tea
> or cocoa, Lee suggests enjoying all three in different parts of the day.
>
> "Personally, I would drink hot cocoa in the morning, green tea in the
> afternoon and a glass of red wine in the evening. That's a good
> combination," he says.
>
> The research paper is titled "Cocoa Has More Phenolic Phytochemicals
> and a Higher Antioxidant Capacity than Teas and Red Wine." Lee's
> collaborators are his former graduate student, Ki Won Lee; Hyong Joo
> Lee, a professor at Seoul National University, South Korea; and Young
> Jun Kim, a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell.
>
> The research was funded in part by the BioGreen 21 Program, Rural
> Development Administration, Republic of South Korea.
>
> http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases...a-Lee.bpf.html