Chocolate News and Research

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Study reveals new insights into role of polyphenols in the soil microbiome

Fruits, vegetables, red wine and chocolate are all rich in polyphenols, natural plant compounds that double as cancer-fighting antioxidants. We can access these foods' health benefits because the microbes in our guts happily feast on them, breaking them down into smaller chemical components.

10 Jun 2021

Roots for obesity start in the first year of life, shows study

Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Brazil found that when health workers were trained to promote infant healthy feeding practices to pregnant women their children consumed less fats and carbohydrates at 3 years of age and had lower measures of body fat at the age of 6.

2 Jun 2021

Scientists identify the odorants responsible for off-flavor-tainted cocoa

Musty, moldy, smoky or horse dung-like smelling cocoa is not suitable for chocolate production. As part of a larger research project, a team of scientists led by Martin Steinhaus from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich has identified the odorants responsible for such off-flavors.

21 Apr 2021

Climate change likely to affect the world's dinner plates

How will climate change affect the world's dinner plates? "Our Changing Menu: Climate Change and the Foods We Love and Need," a new book from an imprint of Cornell University Press, presents a global climate tour of Earth's foods - from vegetables, grains and meats to beverages and desserts - from the perspective of climate reality and explains how a warming world will affect your dinner plate.

19 Apr 2021

Smart data helps food producers to yield reliable business forecasts

Food production is a complex process involving the careful monitoring and management of raw materials, supply chains, market prices and much more besides.

26 Mar 2021

Child-targeted advertising impacts the transition from traditional Mediterranean diet to processed foods

Experts have spent decades warning us about the rising rates of childhood obesity, which has become an epidemic among recent generations in many places around the world, including Spain.

16 Feb 2021

Cancer survivors face barriers in maintaining a healthy diet

New research and analysis appearing in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, published by Elsevier, highlights the barriers cancer survivors face in maintaining a healthy diet, as well as the role nutrition may play in cancer risk and treatment.

4 Feb 2021

Chemical compounds in foods can inhibit a key SARS-Cov-2 enzyme

Chemical compounds in foods or beverages like green tea and dark chocolate can bind to and block the function of an enzyme in SARS-CoV-2.

3 Dec 2020

Researchers identify chemical compounds that could block key enzyme in SARS-CoV-2

According to a new study, chemical compounds found in dark chocolate can inhibit the function of a specific enzyme, or protease, in the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

1 Dec 2020

An overview on the transition to responsible, high-quality cocoa production

Worldwide demand for food from the tropics that meet higher environmental and social standards has risen sharply in recent years. Consumers often have to make ethically questionable decisions: products may be available to the global market through child labor, starvation wages, or environmental destruction.

20 Oct 2020

Creating milk chocolate from peanut skins

AZoLifeSciences speaks to Dr. Lisa Dean about how her team have created an antioxidant-boosting milk chocolate using peanut skins.

From United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 2 Sep 2020

A new scientific method approved for measuring flavanols,procyanidins in cocoa-based products

AOAC INTERNATIONAL today announced the approval of a new scientific method for measuring flavanols and procyanidins in cocoa powders, cocoa liquors, chocolates and cocoa extracts.

19 Aug 2020

Researchers set the path for next generation of biodiversity forecasts

Biodiversity's ongoing global decline has prompted policies to protect and restore habitats to minimize animal and plant extinctions.

30 Jul 2020

Researchers show how gut microbiomes change the nature of cancer mutations

It is a fact that has long baffled doctors: Cancer in the small intestine is quite rare, whereas colorectal cancer, a neighboring though much smaller organ, is one of the leading causes of cancer death for men and women. What is it about the colon that seems to "attract" cancer?

30 Jul 2020