The Effects of Chocolate

The Effects of Chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most popular foods all around the world. It

has been said that over 2 billion pounds of chocolate is annually

consumed in the United States and the Swiss consume over 22 pounds per

person per year[1]. Despite its increasing consumption chocolate has

had and still is having a lot of negative effects on the human health.

Some people think that it’s addictive and eat more and more of it

whilst there are some who think the other way. Chocolate is gaining

more and more popularity day by day and has proved to be a delicacy

for people of all ages. But what people need to be aware of is whether

“chocolate is addictive or not”.

Regardless of its tempting taste chocolate tends to have a lot of

negative side effects in the human body. It is proved to cause

migraine problems, obesity, dental cavities and even breast cancer.

Saturated fat in chocolate also increases cholesterol level. Excessive

intake of chocolate leads to heart diseases.

Theobromine and caffeine in chocolate is said to cause “fibrocystic

breast disease”. Cysts in the breast, more common during menstruation,

are usually affected by the properties in chocolate. Methylxanthines

are also found in chocolate, it tends to stimulate chemical activities

in the human body. It increases the production of cyst fluids and also

affects the tissues in breasts, which has been proved to cause breast

cancer. Women with “fibrocystic breast disease” are said to be more

vulnerable to breast cancer through extreme consumption of chocolate.

Theobromine is also proved to cause mental and physical relaxation,

which also promotes sexual awarene...

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...great affect

on the worldwide chocolate business. Such matters could even lead to

severe disputes.

Being a chocolate lover myself, it is indeed quite a hard decision to

make. However, I think a controlled amount wouldn’t do as much harm.

People need to be more aware of the effects and consequences to make

them think twice before buying a load of chocolates. Unfortunately,

there aren’t enough sources and educators worldwide and this factor

remains unseen by more two-thirds of the world’s population.

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[1] http://web.ask.com/redir?bpg=http%3a%2f%2fweb.ask.com

[2]

http://www.healthcentral.com/news/newsfulltext.cfm?id=8044&StoryType=ReutersNews

[3]

http://www.nestle.co.uk/nutrition/default.asp?page=articles/chocolate_myths_and_facts.asp