//A CHOCOLATE A DAY KEEPS THE MEDICINE MAN AWAY

If like me, you intend to spend part of the Easter celebration nibbling the ears of chocolate bunnies, you might be surprised to learn that you are consuming medicine.

Xoxalatl was a product of southern and Mesoamerica. The Mayans and other cultures of the region regarded it as sacred, and it was prized for its medicinal and aphrodisiacal qualities. Chocolate was reserved for men of high rank such as priests and, somewhat uncomfortably, sacrificial victims.

The Maya used chocolate as a drink. However, their milkfree version, often with added chillies, would be almost unrecognisable to modern chocolate drinkers used to the milk infused sweetened concoction we have today. The European conquerors of South America rapidly adopted the medicinal use of chocolate.

In the 16th century,Western medicine closely resembled that of the Maya and Asian systems. Ailments were divided into pairs of opposing qualities, such as hot/cold, dry/moist. Chocolate as a drink was seen to be a hot/dry medicine to be used for cold/ damp ailments. Curiously, chocolate as a paste was classified as a cold medicine.

Chocolate was used for many conditions, and its use as a medicine evolved over the centuries. Chocolate could be used by itself, in mixtures with other herbs, or as a simple carrier to mask the taste of other medicines. One of the more sphinctertightening uses was a mixture of oil of chocolate, crushed millipedes,“sugar of lead”, and opium for treating haemorrhoids.

Aside from its consistent use as an aphrodisiac, the general uses of chocolate as a medicine fell into three broad categories – as a source of nutrition for the feeble or emaciated, as a stimulant for the moribund, and at lower doses, as a relaxant and a “soother” of digestion.

How did chocolate do all this? As either a drink or paste, chocolate has a high concentration of oils that provide energy and nutrition. Later versions with added milk and sugar also added to the food value of drinking chocolate, which allowed people with difficulty eating to gain nutrition.The use of chocolate to treat cholera in the 19th century is due to its ability to provide fluids for rehydration and energy while the disease ran its course.

Chocolate also has several pharmacologically active substances. The main one is Theobromine.The name comes from the cocoa plant’s scientific name, Theobroma caco, Theobroma meaning “food of the gods”. Theobromine is similar to caffeine and has similar effects on the body, producing increased alertness (and

agitation at higher concentrations) as well as relaxing the muscles in the lungs, making breathing easier.

Chocolate also has anandamide, a substance related to the active component of cannabis. However, eating the several kilograms or so of chocolate needed to get enough anandamide into you to have an effect would tax even the most serious chocoholic. Some substances slow the breakdown of anandamide. But whether there is enough to significantly increase anandamide levels to have an effect is very doubtful.

But that’s not all. Chocolate also contains the psychoactive substance phenylethyamine.While there is a reasonable level of this chemical in chocolate, most people’s bodies break it down rapidly. However, if you get headaches (not hangover headaches) from drinking red wine or eating blue cheese, your body doesn’t breakdown chemicals like phenylethyamine effectively, and you might get a buzz from chocolate.

Chocolate was primarily used as a medicine until the 19th century when it began to be replaced by more specific treatments. However, as its use as medicine waned, its use in confectionery waxed. The first use of chocolate for Easter eggs was in the early 19th century. With modern chocolate compounding methods, chocolate confectionery became more accessible, becoming incorporated into human mating rituals. And the use of chocolate in Easter eggs exploded.

Interest in chocolate and health has been revived recently, as the oils (and possibly the anti-oxidants) in chocolate (particularly dark chocolate) appear to reduce heart disease. But as one review puts it, “Further experimental studies are required to confirm a potentially beneficial effect of chocolate consumption.” So don’t rush out and stock up on dark chocolate Easter bunnies to ward off heart disease.

Even the ancient Mayans knew that “the dose makes the poison” and cautioned that too much chocolate was bad for you, but that moderate consumption was good. So be sure to enjoy your Easter chocolate in moderate doses, but enjoy it nonetheless – it is medicinal after all!