Inkblot 2019 Summer

While browsing the Internet for a possible Extended Essay topic, I decided to eat
chocolate to help alleviate the stress of the IB Diploma Program. Suddenly, this sparked
a thought: I could write my essay on chocolate! I started thinking about my addiction to
chocolate bars, leading me to pose the question: Can chocolate dependency be equated to
alcoholism?
Immediately, this opened the door to new ideas and possibilities. I knew that chocolate
wouldn’t have as many negative effects as alcohol, but I wondered exactly how it affected a
person’s body. While conducting further research, I found some interesting articles exploring
the health benefits of chocolate. One that really stood out to me was an investigation that
found a positive correlation between the amount of chocolate consumed by a country and the
number of Nobel laureates from that country. Yes, a team wrote an actual paper on this.
Full disclaimer: I am pretty much willing to accept any suggestion of chocolate being
healthy, simply to justify my (over)consumption of it. Of course, I know that the possibility
of ending up in a hospital due to excessive chocolate eating is infinitely higher than that of
receiving a Nobel prize. Nonetheless, there are serious studies suggesting that chocolate isn’t
just sugar and fat and calories – at least dark chocolate isn’t.
Dark chocolate contains a fancy-looking chemical called flavan-3-ol. Often just referred
to as flavanols, these chemicals are a class of flavonoids that are found in fruits, wine,
vegetables, and cocoa, which is a prominent ingredient in dark chocolate.
Flavanols are thought to have positive effects on the brain. Many studies have
concluded that they reduce age-related cognitive dysfunctions, among many other benefits.
For example, research has shown that flavanols improve blood flow to the brain, thereby
increasing the speed of working memory, attention span, reaction times, and problem-solving
skills. Dark chocolate also contains substantial amounts of magnesium, which suppresses the
release of the stress-causing hormone, cortisol. Other compounds found in dark chocolate,
such as anandamide, tryptophan, and phenylethylamine, are also associated with feelings of
bliss and positivity.
Sadly, not all chocolates are made equal. Most of the health benefits associated with
dark chocolate are a result of its high flavanol content, and milk and white chocolate (if you
would even consider that chocolate) are low in flavanol levels. Sometimes, during the process
of creating chocolate, flavanol compounds are actually removed. As a result, the positive
effects of dark chocolate may not necessarily be able to be applied to all types of
chocolate.
However, even though the health benefits of chocolate can be
debated, I still love it with a passion. The word cocoa derives from
“kakawa”. To an Olmec person living in Central America between
1500 – 500 B.C, the word would mean “god food”. I couldn’t
agree more.
Designed by Minkyeom Kwon
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