A small note about chocolate

Chocolate is the first luxury. It has so many things wrapped up in it: Deliciousness in the moment, childhood memories, and that grin-inducing feeling of getting a reward for being good.

-Mariska Hargitay-

Who doesn't like chocolate?

Maybe there are just a little number of people who do not like it. The expression of the quote above, in my opinion, depicts perfectly how extensive the range of sensation it brings; pass through the edge of time. As for me, I remember how was I rewarded by my parents if I made them happy: a stick of chocolate ice cream was more that enough. Now, every time I taste a chocolate ice cream, that childhood experience also appears together with the melted of chocolate coating on my tongue.

Chocolates are also often associated with a love expression. The taste of chocolates, from sweet to bitter, can match most feelings related to love. Chocolates are the symbol of the turmoil of young love. The evidence is easy. Every year, chocolates are one of the first choices of young couples to expressing their feelings on Valentine's Day. In another hand, they also match for a feeling of broken heart as some people believe that eating a bar of chocolate can mend the hurt within a broken heart.

The association between love and chocolate may be explained scientifically. It is phenylethylamine (PEA) in chocolate that is responsible for this.  This chemical substance acts as a releasing agent of norepinephrine and dopamine.  Norepinephrine is a chemical that stimulates the production of adrenaline, which makes our heart race, and the palms sweat. Meanwhile, dopamine is a neurochemical that is getting released by the brain when we feel good and it affects brain processes that control emotional response, movement, ability to express pleasure, but also pain. PEA results dizzying feelings associated with romantic love. Large quantities of PEA would increase both physical and emotional energy and at the same time release more dopamine [1].

Based on several studies, despite the pros and cons, chocolates can be beneficial for health. Eating high-cacao percentage chocolate (read: dark chocolate) considerately offers a protection to type 2 diabetes. The flavonoids it contains are associated with lower insulin resistance and better blood glucose regulation. In this matter, composition is really important. If the composition of sugar is dominant, the effect may be otherwise [2].  Other research also show that chocolate may be advantageous for lowering cholesterol level, preventing memory decline, reducing the risk of heart disease and preventing stroke [5, 6]. However, in another hand, chocolate can also be risky as it causes tooth decay, poor bone structure and osteoporosis [2]. In addition, the caffeine within the chocolate is largely to blame for headaches and ADHD in children [3].

All the benefit and the sensation that chocolates bring is accompanying by a sad fact about children trafficking. In 2010, a research conducted by Tulane University under a grant of the US Government showed that a staggering 1.8 million children aged 5 to 17 years work in cocoa farms of Ivory Coast and Ghana at the cost of their physical, emotional, cognitive and moral well being. Further UNICEF predicted that approximately 35,000 Ivorian children working on cocoa farms as victims of trafficking [4].

This fact, somehow gives a chill. The luxurious we taste of a bar of chocolates probably is part of pain that someone tastes. A good sensation on sipping a cup of hot chocolate maybe a part of emotional torture of a child somewhere. How peculiar it is how the happiness of someone was a cost of the sorrow of someone else. In this rate, chocolates are somehow the token of inequality.

Now, every time we taste chocolates, can we tuck a pray? Pray that someday, chocolates being a complete symbol of love and equality. The day when we can enjoy them without the cost of others' pain.


Bibliography

1. ASDN, Chemistry of love, available at: http://www.asdn.net/asdn/chemistry/chemistry_of_love.shtml (accessed 22 January 2014)
2. Express.co.uk, How dark chocolate could ward off diabetes risk, available at: http://www.express.co.uk/news/health/454889/How-dark-chocolate-could-help-ward-off-diabetes-risk (accessed 22 January 2014)
3. Ezinet,  The danger in chocolate, available at: http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Dangers-In-Chocolate&id=487068 (accessed 22 January 2014)
4. Global march, Child Labour in the Cocoa Farms of Ivory Coast and Ghana, available at: http://www.globalmarch.org/content/child-labour-cocoa-farms-ivory-coast-and-ghana (accessed 22 January 2014)
5. Medical News Today, What are the health benefits of chocolate?, available at: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270272.php (accessed 22 January 2014)
6. USA Today, Chocolate lowers heart - stroke risk, available at: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/healthcare/health/healthcare/studies/story/2011-08-29/Chocolate-lowers-heart-stroke-risk/50174422/1 (accessed 22 January 2014)
7. Wikipedia, Chocolate, available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate (accessed 22 January 2014)