By now, we are all aware that chocolate can be good for us. It contains antioxidants, called flavanoids, which provide us with some tremendous health benefits. Chocolate also has some other, less healthful but more fun benefits with its ability to harmlessly activate opiate receptors in the brain.
The notion that chocolate can be health-promoting is old news to meso-American anthropologists - very old news.
Chocolate has been revered by cultures throughout the Americas for 3,000 years, at least. This “food of the gods” was so highly regarded in ancient civilizations that it was occasionally used as currency, with its value being par with the value of gold. It was also a highly respected staple in their stock of medicines and drugs.
Louis E. Grivetti of the University of California at Davis and his team have turned up medical texts, dating back to 1522, describing chocolate therapies. Although Europeans wrote these texts, the remedies they described were remedies that had been brought back by explorers who had visited the new world. The tales in the texts were so compelling that Europe was soon importing large quantities of cocoa beans to serve an ever-growing demand for therapeutic chocolate.
Ancient Uses for Medicinal Cocoa
The earliest texts found by Grivetti and his team can be likened to a tune from Mary Poppins – "a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." The early texts showed that chocolate was used merely as a vehicle to help some of the less palatable medicines go down. As the texts went on, however, it became apparent that chocolate was soon regarded as an active ingredient in the cures for a very broad range of ailments.
Healers pounded cocoa beans into a paste and diluted the paste into a drink that was given to people suffering from fevers, liver disease and kidney dysfunction. Physicians often prescribed ground cocoa beans, mixed with resin, to cure dysentery. Some cocoa drinks, especially when augmented by ground maize, were given to patients who needed to gain weight. Hot chocolate was even prescribed as a laxative and as an aid to digestion.
Mood and Fertility Drugs
By the early 1600s, European researchers were beginning to find evidence that chocolate had an effect on a person’s moods. An example of this is the 1631 treatise by Spanish physician and surgeon Antonio Comenero de Ledesma that Grivetti uncovered. De Ledesma wrote that chocolate made people amiable and “incited consumers to… lovemaking.” Because of this and the fact that chocolate was considered to be an intoxicant, it was deemed unsuitable for women and children, at least until the 14th century.
By de Ledesma’s time, however, healers had realized that chocolate was not for men alone. It was believed to be a love potion that helped women conceive, he reported. De Ledesma also reported that, if imbibed during pregnancy, hot chocolate could help ease labor and delivery.
A Cure for All Ailments
According to the texts that Grivetti and his team of scholars uncovered, there aren’t many ailments that chocolate can’t cure. It was used to treat tuberculosis, toothaches and ulcers. It was alleged to cure itches, ward off tumors and aid sleep. By the 1680s, chocolate was believed to restore energy after a hard day’s labor, lessen lung inflammation and strengthen the heart. Much later, in the 1800s, cocoa was being mixed with ground amber powder to cure hangovers, as well as with other ingredients to cure such ailments as syphilis, hemorrhoids and intestinal imbalances.
So next time you feel guilty about eating that candy bar or that chocolate mousse, stop and think of all the good you could be doing for your body and enjoy.
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