Chocolate Candy - Page 3
Chocolate candy is perhaps the largest phenomenon in the dessert world. It is the best selling candy by far for Valentine’s Day, making up over half of candy sales for the sweetest holiday of the year. Americans alone consume 100 pounds of chocolate every second. Just imagine how many cacao trees are needed to produce that much chocolate! That averages to approximately 11.7 pounds of chocolate consumed per person, per year. Other places in the world consume even more chocolate than Americans - in Denmark, the average chocolate consumption is 30 pounds per year, per person. Now that is a lot of chocolate candy!
Though chocolate candy often receives some negative flak as being an unhealthy treat, in actuality there are several beneficial attributes of chocolate. For example, chocolate contains over 300 compounds, and several of them have significant health benefits. One is antioxidants, which are known to assist in the prevention of cancer. Antioxidants are especially prevalent in dark chocolate; however, most lovers of chocolate candy (71 percent) prefer milk chocolate. The caffeine content in chocolate candy is considered threatening, but the average bar of chocolate contains less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Chocolate also contains phenylephylamine - a hormone the brain triggers when you fall in love. This lends some weight to the theory of chocolate as an aphrodisiac, and at the very least produces happiness in those who indulge in chocolate candy. Perhaps the best news for chocolate candy lovers: chocolate does not cause cavities or contribute to acne, so enjoy chocolate candy guilt-free!
