Chocolate News
Happy National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day! January 3, 2022
The sweet truth
Comfort food has been integral to consumers since the Covid-19 outbreak. Chocolate, an innovative and fast-evolving segment that fits right into the comfort food bracket, is also growing at a healthy clip. On that sweet note, here are some trends and future predictions that will dominate the chocolate industry in 2022 (click, HERE).
How to live longer: The life-prolonging snack that lowers blood pressure and slows ageing
Some research states that a sweet treat could add up to two years to one’s life when consumed regularly. Dark chocolate contains levels of antioxidants high enough to significantly improve blood pressure and ward off disease. Findings revealed that those who ate three bars of chocolate per month had a 36 percent lower risk of premature death. The health benefits of dark chocolate have been attributed to its inimitable flavonoid content, which confers significant antioxidant benefits.
He went to 7-Eleven for chocolate milk and left with a million bucks
A Virginia dad’s chocolate milk run turned into a $1 million windfall. Dennis Willoughby of North Chesterfield went to a local 7-Eleven to buy chocolate milk for his kids when he decided to pick up a scratch-off lottery ticket, Virginia Lottery officials said Wednesday. The ticket, a $1,000,000 Platinum Jackpot, turned out to be a top prize winner. The lucky father was given the choice of taking the full $1 million prize in annual payments over 30 years or a one-time cash payment of $640,205 before taxes. He chose the latter. Although it’s not $1 million, it can still buy a lot of chocolate milk.
Love of black coffee, dark chocolate could be genetic
If you like your coffee black, it could be that your grandpa or your great-aunt did, too. A preference for black coffee and also for dark chocolate seems to lie in a person’s genes, scientists report. It’s not the taste that these individuals actually love, but it’s because their genes enable them to metabolize caffeine faster and they associate the bitter flavor with mental alertness. Dark chocolate also contains a small amount of caffeine but predominantly theobromine, a caffeine-related compound, which is also a psychostimulant. Benefits attributed to dark chocolate and two to three cups of black coffee per day include a lower risk of Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and several types of cancer. The findings were published this month in Scientific Reports.