Health experts You are totally dedicated to ensuring that our population stays healthy. Your mission is to persuade people that eating chocolate is harmful to their health and that they should stop eating it now! To accomplish your mission you will be required to; 1.Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are 2.Find out how much chocolate the UK eats and compare it with other countries (involves some maths) Then you need to do this:  Use your evidence to put together a convincing argument to persuade people to stop eating chocolate Where can you find information?: Your group has access to this information pack and a computer so that you can do extended research Health experts – KS3 Page 1

1. Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are The Risks of Excess Dark Chocolate Because you have been made aware of the health benefits of dark chocolate, don't go overboard and indulge completely in it, as the benefits of dark chocolate can only be derived if it is consumed in moderation. An excess of dark chocolate can lead to the following problems:  Eating dark chocolate can harden the tooth enamel, but an excess is definitely going to result in some amount of cavities.  Dark chocolate contains caffeine, an excess of which can cause anxiety, high blood pressure, headaches, and even digestive problems.  Too much dark chocolate can also result in kidney stones, because it contains oxalates.  The calories in dark chocolate can contribute to weight gain and even obesity to an extent. It is important to remember that the key to deriving the health benefits of every food item is to consume it in moderation. The importance of dark chocolate nutrition has already been made clear, but do not avoid other foods such as fruits and vegetables and consume only dark chocolate thinking it is as healthy. Variety is the spice of life, and a little bit of everything is what will keep you going, not an excess of just one of them! The short-term decrease of some medical problems associated with high flavonoid intake is eventually offset by steadily increasing copper levels, which,by inhibiting flavonoid activity, will over time promote an increase in cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental health issues, joint degeneration, and other conditions. (information continued on next page) Health experts – KS3 Page 2

Health: Overindulgence of chocolate has been linked to some overweight cases and could result in the onset of diabetes. Some researchers have also found the stearic acid, found in chocolate, may promote blood clots. So it is important to regulate the amount you consume. Addiction: Many food scientists have reported chocolate to be the single most craved food. Chocolate has been found to trigger parts of the brain that are associated with drug addiction. The phenomena of chocolate craving is still poorly understood and it is yet to be found if addiction is a sensory or a pharmacological effect. "Our study confirms long-held suspicions that eating chocolate is something that people do when they are feeling down," said Dr. Golomb. "Because it was a cross sectional study, meaning a slice in time, it did not tell us whether the chocolate decreased or intensified the depression." Golomb and her colleagues examined the relationship of chocolate consumption to mood in an adult study sample of about 1,000 subjects who were not on antidepressant medications and did not have any known cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Participants were asked questions regarding how many servings of chocolate they ate in a week, and were screened using the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to measure mood. The researchers found that both men and women who had higher depression scores consumed almost 12 servings of chocolate per month, those with lesser depression scores ate about eight servings of chocolate per month, and those with no depression had five servings per month. No differentiation was made between dark and milk chocolate; a medium serving of chocolate was one ounce (25g), which is slightly less than an average chocolate candy bar. "The findings did not appear to be explained by a general increase in caffeine, fat, carbohydrates or energy intake, suggesting that our findings are specific to chocolate," said Golomb. There was also no difference in the consumption of other antioxidant-rich foods, such as fish, coffee, fruits and vegetables between those with depression and those without. 1. Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are (continued) Health experts – KS3 Page 3 (information continued on next page)

How reliable are all these "Studies?" When taking a closer look, one discovers that once the studies funded by chocolate interest groups were discarded, the ones left offered conflicting results. As expected, some isolated compounds in cocoa did however show certain health benefits. Because it is a common practice in nutritional research to do studies on food fractions, outcomes may sometimes appear negative because they are done without any co-factors or complexed nutrients, however in the case of cocoa, some of the research was positive because those "co-factors" (all the other detrimental ingredients in chocolate) were not part of the study. If people were to consume pure cocoa, they might indeed be able to enjoy a few health benefits, including a positive effect on blood pressure and glucose metabolism, however the majority of people eat processed chocolate with all the other less desirable ingredients (i.e. added sugar, corn syrup, milk fats / dairy cream, hydrogenated oils, etc.), and where the actual cocoa content may be less than 20%, so unless premium dark chocolate is consumed, and one does not suffer from copper overload (see further below), all bets regarding chocolate being a healthy food are off. Placebo-controlled trials showed that some of the chemicals in chocolate (phenylethylamine, theobromine, or caffeine), can indeed trigger migraines by altering cerebral blood flow and releasing norepinephrine in some of those prone to suffer from migraine headaches. Of all of the foods isolated that triggered the most attacks, chocolate was an offender about 30% of the time. Claiming that ‘eating moderate amounts of chocolate increases one’s life span’ is a most interesting example of how some researchers will twist and manipulate statistics to prove anything! 1. Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are (continued) Health experts – KS3 Page 4 (information continued on next page)

"Chocolate-Is-Good-For-You" campaigns through the media or the prominent placement of leaflets at confectionery counters keep feeding the consumer "made-to-order" research results whose outcome is pre- determined to satisfy an agenda (i.e. selling chocolate), with little relevance to science or facts. Considering that nicotine has also shown some health benefits, particularly with ulcerative colitis and Parkinson’s disease, would this be a reason to urge people to start smoking tobacco? From a nutritional perspective - the average milk chocolate product is no less a junk food than ice cream or donuts, and it is equally unhealthy and fattening when large amounts are consumed on a regular basis. While no one is trying to discourage people from enjoying an occasional chocolate treat - urging consumers to increase their chocolate consumption for "Health Reasons" leaves nutritional research less than credible, particularly when diabetes and obesity have become an out- of-control global problem. When milk chocolate, or lower grade chocolate is consumed, part of the total fat content of chocolate comes from milk fat or various other types of fat, which do create a risk factor with cardiovascular disease. Despite the good news on cocoa not raising LDL cholesterol, even dark chocolate is a very calorie-dense food, so while the fat content may not invite cardiovascular disease from an atherogenic (arterial clogging) perspective, its regular consumption will add a lot of extra calories to someone's daily total, and as a result still affect those who have to watch their caloric intake. Nevertheless, being listed as the No.1 ingredient in many chocolate products, sugar is unquestionably a worse culprit compared to the fat content when addressing the effects of chocolate on someone’s overall health. 1. Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are (continued) Health experts – KS3 Page 5 (information continued on next page)

Sugar is a well-known cause, contributing, or aggravating factor with a host of medical conditions, including heart disease, inflammatory conditions, immune system disorders, impaired phagocytosis, mood disorders, insulin and blood sugar disorders, leukemia, dental caries, yeast infections, depletion of essential nutrients, osteoporosis, obesity, and others. The high sugar content in chocolate increases Chromium requirements (chromium is an associated trace mineral to copper). The resulting high copper / low chromium ratio creates an increased risk for trabecular bone loss, and it can trigger or worsen blood sugar-related, and/or inflammatory conditions that may include chronic tonsil infections, rheumatoid-types of arthritis, or other problems of the immune system in prone individuals. As is the case with other sweets - anything beyond a casual consumption of chocolate will result in reduced, not improved health, without even going into some more immediate health concerns that some individuals experience from consuming chocolate, such as allergic reactions, kidney stones, fibrocystic breast disease, heartburn, migraine headaches. Nevertheless – in moderation, chocolate can certainly be the sinful delight it was meant to be! 1. Find out what the dangers of eating chocolate are (continued) Suggested tasks: 1.Find the meanings of any words you are unsure of 2.List the side effects of eating chocolate 3.Research the symptoms of the conditions which you could get Health experts – KS3 Page 6

2. Find out how much chocolate the UK eats and compare it with other countries Each of us in Britain eats the equivalent of 180 bars of Cadbury's Dairy Milk, the nation's favourite brand, every year. Or to put it another way, we guzzle 50 KitKats a second! People in Britain eat around 10 kilos of chocolate each a year, and together, spend £ 3 billion on cocoa confectionery. Eighteen EU countries were among the world ’ s top 26 chocolate confectioneries consumers in 2007, ranking from kg eaten per capita in Ireland, to 4.5 kg in France and 1.04 kg in Poland. The EU 27 consumed in total 2.5 million tons of chocolate products that year, which accounts for around half of the global consumption world-wide Country Amount of Chocolate (Kg) consumed per head of population per year Ranking in the world for chocolate consumption % of population considered obese Ranking in the world for obesity Austria Australia Belgium Brazil Canada China Denmark France Germany Italy Japan Norway Poland Switzerland Slovakia United Kingdom USA Health experts – KS3 Page 7 Suggested tasks: 1.Complete the table (rank top as 1) 2.Use the data to create a graph which shows the link between chocolate consumption and obesity