One-Hundred Eighty Bars A Day

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. What about a chocolate bar a day? Cacao beans, the primary ingredient in chocolate, are part of the fruit from a flowering tree, just like apples. Cacao beans are the seeds from the cacao fruit. Cacao beans have more than 300 chemicals, including a poison. Yet eating a chocolate bar doesn’t kill us—it makes us happy.

CHEMICALS GALORE

Let’s look at exactly what’s inside this tasty treat. Several compounds in the cacao bean belong to a group of chemical compounds called alkaloids. Alkaloids occur naturally in many flowering plants. (Alkaloids can be synthesized in labs, too.)

An alkaloid structure can get pretty complicated, but alkaloid molecules always have a ring structure with at least one nitrogen atom. Nitrogen is an element that plants need for photosynthesis. You know a chemical compound is an alkaloid if the name ends with ‘-ine.’

Alkaloids are in a category called psychoactive drugs. “Psycho” means the mind. So, these drugs affect mental processes. This brain-stimulating property is well known. Alkaloids are used in many medicines. Other alkaloids are nicotine, codeine (used in some cough medicines), and atropine (prescribed for people with slow heart rates).

Chocolate has two main alkaloids— caffeine and theobromine (theeoh-BRO-mine). Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant, so it helps people stay alert. Theobromine is used in medicines to lower blood pressure. It can be toxic, which means poisonous. Dogs and cats are very vulnerable to theobromine. At one point, theobromine was even investigated as a poison to decrease coyote populations.

Chocolate also contains antioxidants. Antioxidants help delay damage to our cells. They protect cells by removing free radicals and unstable molecules. Catechin (KA-teh-kin) is the main antioxidant in chocolate. Interestingly, cacao beans have a higher catechin content than green tea leaves. You might recognize other examples of antioxidants—vitamins A, C, and E.