Thank you for the information. Sounds like there may be a
possibility that cocoa provides health benefits for these
agricultural people, although we can expect that to change in five
minutes as nutritional "wisdom" continues to shift. (How many of you
are still downing the unbelievable amount of water that the diet
pundits wanted us to drink? How many are avoiding dietary sources of
cholesterol? How many of you have carbohydrates as the foundation of
your personal nutritional pyramid? Etc., etc., etc.)
The bottom line is that if we stick to our native and natural diets,
there's no need for drugs, however beneficial we might feel they are
or perhaps want them to be.
On Jun 20, 2008, at 2:52 AM, steve wrote:
> Jim Swayze wrote:
>>> steve wrote:
>>>
>>>> Humans first entered Europe about 45,000 years ago which might
>>>> make European native foods non-paleo as well. In fact,
>>>> everything outside of Africa becomes non-paleo since immigration
>>>> out of Africa may have started no later than 50,000 years ago.
>>
>>
>> Again, my definition of paleo is that a particular food has to be
>> of a similar *type* as what we consumed for the overwhelming
>> majority of our time here on earth. That'd be just about any kind
>> of animal and many bugs, lots of fruits and true vegetables, the
>> occasional honey cache. An American bison is just as paleo then
>> as a native European wild bovine or as an African musk ox or as an
>> Arctic seal. But what counterpart does cocao have? It's a drug
>> new on the scene.
>
> The comments below were taken from wikipedia.org. It appears to me
> that regular consumption of cocoa has generous health benefits, not
> health risks. Having had a heart attack, I find the cardiovascular
> benefits particularly important and the list from wikipedia is
> still missing important recent studies. As you may have noted, I'm
> a pragmatic paleo eater who looks for the best of paleo eating
> combined with modern science and desirable supplements, supplements
> which might be drugs depending on the country one lives in. As
> I've mentioned before, I consume free trade organic raw cocoa which
> has not been dutch processed. I get about 15 grams a day that way
> in addition to some standardized extracts in products from the Life
> Extension Foundation.
>
> The cocoa plant is in the *Sterculiaceae Family which includes the
> cola tree (cola nut, kola, bissy nut) found in Africa with many
> uses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterculiaceae)
> *
> <pasted>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa
>
> The cacao plant was first given its botanical name by Swedish
> natural scientist Carolus Linnaeus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Carolus_Linnaeus> in his original classification of the plant
> kingdom, who called it /Theobroma/ ("food of the gods") /cacao/.
>
>
> Health benefits of cocoa consumption
>
> Chocolate and cocoa contain a high level of flavonoids <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavonoid>, specifically epicatechin <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catechin>, which may have beneficial
> cardiovascular <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circulatory_system>
> effects on health.^[5] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-4> ^[6] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-5> ^[7] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-6> The ingestion of flavonol-rich cocoa is
> associated with acute elevation of circulating nitric oxide <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitric_oxide>, enhanced flow-mediated
> vasodilation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasodilator>, and
> augmented microcirculation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Microcirculation>.^[8] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-7>
>
> Prolonged intake of flavonol-rich cocoa has been linked to
> cardiovascular health benefits,^[9] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-8> ^[10] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-9> ^[11] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-10> though it should be noted that this refers to
> plain cocoa and dark chocolate. Milk chocolate's addition of whole
> milk reduces the overall cocoa content per ounce while increasing
> saturated fat levels, possibly negating some of cocoa's heart-
> healthy potential benefits. Nevertheless, studies have still found
> short term benefits in LDL cholesterol <http://en.wikipedia.org/
> wiki/Low_density_lipoprotein> levels from dark chocolate
> consumption.^[12] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa#cite_note-11>
>
> Hollenberg and colleagues of Harvard Medical School studied the
> effects of cocoa and flavanols on Panama's Kuna Indian population,
> who are heavy consumers of cocoa. The researchers found that the
> Kuna Indians living on the islands had significantly lower rates of
> heart disease and cancer compared to those on the mainland who do
> not drink cocoa as on the islands. It is believed that the improved
> blood flow after consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa may help to
> achieve health benefits in hearts and other organs. In particular,
> the benefits may extend to the brain and have important
> implications for learning and memory.^[13] <http://en.wikipedia.org/
> wiki/Cocoa#cite_note-12> ^[14] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
> Cocoa#cite_note-13>
>
> Foods rich in cocoa appear to reduce blood pressure but drinking
> green and black tea may not, according to an analysis of previously
> published research in the April 9, 2007 issue of Archives of
> Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.^[15] <http://
> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa#cite_note-14>
>
>
> ^Steve
>
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