Archive for the ‘Food Facts’ Category

Dark Chocolate

According to a recent study, eating a little dark chocolate every day could be good for you. Research at Johns Hopkins University in the USA found that cocoa beans have a similar biochemical effect to aspirin in reducing the likelihood of blood clots.

The scientists estimate that eating a little dark chocolate every day could halve the risk of a heart attack. However, what they don’t emphasize is that eating a lot of chocolate is actually bad for your heart, because even dark chocolate is jam-packed full of sugar and animal fats.

In the meantime why don’t you try making this lovely chocolate cake recipe;

CHOCOLATE CAKE, OR DEVIL’S FOOD
5 level tablespoonfuls of butter,
1?1/4 cups of sugar,
3?1/2 squares of Baker’s Chocolate, (melted),
3 eggs,
1 teaspoonful of vanilla,
3/4 a cup of milk,
3?1/2 level teaspoonfuls of baking powder,
1?1/2 cups of sifted pastry flour.

Cream the butter, add sugar and chocolate, then the unbeaten eggs and
vanilla, and beat together until very smooth. Sift the baking powder with
one?half a cup of the flour, and use first; then alternate the milk and the
remaining flour, and make the mixture stiff enough to drop from the spoon.
Beat until very smooth and bake in loaf in moderate oven.

Enjoy!

SOURCE: 101 Facts You Should Know About Food

take a sip

Now, to drink or not to drink coffee? That is the question … Something has been said and has to be said on both sides. Coffee has been alternatively hell and heaven, source of all the diseases or a universal panacea. The truth lies somewhere between the two. During recent decades, the concern about health and food has increased so much that many publications can be found about coffee in this respect. Further studies in Pharmacology are part of the new history of coffee, as the conclusions will encourage or discourage coffee drinking. Caffeine is certainly the best known of all the compounds extracted from the beverage. The stimulating effect had already been studied at the beginning of the Nineteenth century and is still under examination. Caffeine certainly has a positive effect on attention, it reduces the sensation of tiredness, consequently gives a lighter sleep. There is also a question of habit and every individual has to adapt his consumption to his own reactions.

On the other hand, coffee contains phenolic acids, known to have anticarcinogenic properties. Fruit and coffee (mainly with caffeic acid) are the major sources of phenolic acids in the diet. Besides this type of compound, coffee contains other good antioxidants. Therefore, like other beverages, it shows a complex mixture of oxidant and antioxidant activities. Some studies have shown that not only is coffee not carcinogenic in vivo but that it could even protect against colon and breast cancers. Possible mechanisms include the effects of antioxidants in blocking mutations and carcinogen metabolites. Other compounds, the diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, have been shown to increase cholesterol levels, this effect being drastically reduced by drinking filtered coffee. Anyway, they have also been recognized as chemoprotective agents. In conclusion, a reasonable consumption of coffee is certainly harmless for most people.

SOURCE : Coffee Flavor Chemistry, Ivon Flament