And this is not to mention its effects on people's mood. Especially women, who consume more of this food than men (according to MARS, 59% vs. 41%). In contrast to men, women more frequently claim that chocolate lifts their spirits. According to various studies, the 'addiction' to chocolate would be stronger among women. And it would be closely related to progesterone spikes. When the level of this hormone increases in the blood, so does the craving for chocolate.
The Carbonell Institute in Palma de Mallorca states that indeed, we are dealing with a food with antidepressant properties due to substances such as caffeine, theobromine, and phenylethylamine. "Furthermore," they add, "it is rich in magnesium, whose decrease is related to premenstrual tension and women's tendency to eat chocolate on those days of the cycle." However, the same center warns that the above should not be interpreted as it being a "good antidepressant," because it is not, as excessive consumption leads to overweight and a significant increase in fats in the blood.
Even the link between chocolate and women's sexual interest has been studied. To conduct this analysis, two basic data were used, the frequency of chocolate consumption and self-assessed interest in sex. The result: as women consume more chocolate, their interest in sex decreases (men were interested in sex regardless of the amount of chocolate they consumed). Could this be why chocolate is sometimes referred to as a 'substitute' for sex? Perhaps.
Ethicality, a rising demand (like the price of chocolate)
In any case, what we are interested in emphasizing is the good reputation that chocolate has gained in recent years with the invaluable help of numerous scientific studies. But one does not only eat certain foods for their alleged beneficial properties, right? In fact, consumers are increasingly demanding to eat more ethically, more responsibly towards the environment and others. Hence the rise of vegetarianism and veganism or the questioning of foods that were sold to us as very healthy at the time (like quinoa) but whose consumption in the West worsens the living conditions of those who produce it (the drama with quinoa is that in Bolivia, the main producer, where it is a staple food, the strong external demand has caused its price to skyrocket to unimaginable levels there as well).
Well, the same thing is happening with chocolate. In just 60 years, cocoa cultivation has destroyed 90% of the forests in Ivory Coast, the world's leading cocoa producer (and this deforestation affects the temperature and humidity conditions that cocoa trees need to thrive). The EU must approve by December 30 of this year a regulation that prohibits the purchase of products that degrade forests, but countries like Brazil or Germany are pushing against it. The idea is to demand that chocolate companies (including giants like Ferrero, Nestlé, or Mars) demonstrate that the cocoa beans they import have not contributed to deforesting any additional land. Each shipment will have to include the GPS coordinates of the plantations where the cocoa was grown to monitor its traceability.
Children enslaved in cocoa plantations
Another, even more serious issue, is that of child slaves in the sector, more than two million according to a report by various NGOs in 2018, who work only in exchange for food. The documentary "The Dark Side of Chocolate" exposed this without anesthesia some years ago. "If you have consumed a lot of cocoa in the last 20 years, then you have fed on child labor, slavery, child labor with very dangerous chemicals, machetes, and very heavy loads," stated lawyer Etelle Higonnet, founder of Coffee Watch, member of the board of Climate Defiance, knight of the National Order of Merit...
On the other hand, the Food Empowerment Project organization states that "child labor has been observed in cocoa plantations in Cameroon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, and Togo. However, since most of the cocoa produced in West Africa is concentrated in Ghana and Ivory Coast [where 40% of the world's total is produced], most cases of child labor have been documented in these two countries." This organization that promotes ethical eating adds in a report on the subject that "most children working in cocoa plantations are between 12 and 16 years old, although journalists have seen children as young as 5 years old working in the plantations. Also, 40% of these child workers are girls, some of whom end up working in the plantations until they reach adulthood."
And if all of the above were not enough, according to data from a study by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek (2018) published in Science and collected by Aitor Sánchez in his book "Your Diet Can Save the Planet," cocoa is one of the most polluting foods that exist - per kilogram of weight, considering all its phases in the production chain - after beef, lamb, and cheese.
Cocoa is currently more expensive than ever in its history, and producing countries are raising fears that its price will continue to rise with the restrictions planned by the EU. The question is: if we have stopped consuming olive oil due to its skyrocketing price, can't we also stop eating and drinking chocolate? Because the truth is that it is by no means a necessity (perhaps the Germans, who consume 11 kilos per person per year, consider it so...). And as good as it is for health... or maybe not so much, either?
And it's not that good for health either
As the experts at conscienhealth.org ask and answer, "Is chocolate a medicine? Hardly. Substances can be extracted from cocoa that can prevent some deaths from heart disease. If taken in the right dose, in capsules." And they add: "There is a certain dark humor (chocolate) in all this. People seem to accept the medicalization of chocolate with a slight wink. We can be fairly certain that chocolate treats have little real medicinal value. But rationalization seems easy: what harm can it do to me?" In other words, we believe what suits us, like a little alcohol being good for health (which is more than debunked by science: for health, zero alcohol is always better than some alcohol).
Nutritionist Julio Basulto (author of "Eat Shit," ed. Vergara) has spoken about chocolate on several occasions, and in an Instagram post, he made his opinion clear: "Is 80% chocolate [cocoa] healthy? In countries like Mexico, Chile, Peru, or Uruguay (let's take an example in Spain), its label has three visible black seals where we read: 'Excess calories, excess saturated fats, and excess sugar.' No, it is not healthy." Recently, he shared this point of view on the television program "Investigation Team" with food technologist Beatriz Robles. "Most of these studies are funded by the industry itself," she denounced. To add: "These are not foods that provide any health benefits."