Mark > Chocolate is the only food that lowers my blood pressure within minutes of consuming, and surprisingly, it also lowers my blood sugar as well.

The author of the first article I sent admits such health benefits: “If people were to consume pure cocoa, then they might indeed be able to enjoy a few health benefits, including a positive effect on blood pressure and glucose metabolism.” 

> It's basically a berry, and has been eaten by indigenous peoples for at least a thousand, and very likely, much longer.

First of all, being a berry or fruit seed doesn't necessarily make something edible.  I'll repost what seem to me the biggest concerns with the stuff:

“Cocoa products... contain stimulants such as phenylethylamine, which have an anti-depressant and amphetamine-like effect; they contain pharmacological substances such as n-acetylethanolamines that are related to cannabis (marijuana), and they have compounds that stimulate the brain to release an opiate-like substance called anandamide.  When drugs are used to block the brain's opiate receptors, the desire for chocolate... disappears - confirming the addictive nature of these types of foods.”

“What about the cancer and heart-protective attributes of catechins, which chocolate products have become increasingly associated with?  Again - in isolation, polyphenols work well in a test-tube environment, but cocoa also happens to be very high in Copper, which unfortunately inhibits the action of some flavonoids, particularly hesperidin, which is an essential flavanone.”

“...elevated copper levels - by inhibiting sulfur - can adversely affect a person's memory and concentration, so progressive copper storage as a result of long-term high copper intake combined with increasingly diminishing sulfur levels can lead to mental impairment or dementia.”

Applying the evolutionary template, to me it's not much of a surprise that there are very real concerns with chocolate.  Being a new world food, we’ve only had 10,000 years or less to even have had a chance at consuming the stuff -- and that's if you're a Native American.  Europeans have only a few hundred years at best.  I just really don't know.

Jim