by Annmarie Kostyk

Created on: June 09, 2010   Last Updated: June 10, 2010

Whether we realize it or not, chocolate has been used for medicinal purposes throughout the ages. It started with the Mayans and recent studies are now showing how beneficial both dark chocolate and cocoa powder are for your health. In the past century, chocolate's use has declined as people turn to the pharmaceutical industry. The recent concern to look toward natural healing leads us back to remedies from the past. Chocolate's health benefits have been no stranger to the limelight with a recent increase over the past five years. Chocolate has proven to be a star in everything from acting as a cough suppressant to cancer prevention from its antioxidant properties.

Can dark chocolate be the new addition to cough syrups we buy at our local pharmacy? Over $2 billion dollars per year are spent on non-prescription cough syrups every year in the United States. Much of these medications are supplied to children. When children or adults coughs are not calmed with such cough syrups, they often seek a prescription from their family physician for a narcotic cough syrup. Researchers in a study conducted in England have found that this far-fetched idea may in fact be a reality before we know it. It has been found that real hot chocolate, melt dark chocolate with water added to it) had been used in the past for calming coughs. Researchers conducted a study involving codeine versus Theobromine which is found in chocolate. As expected, the codeine is extremely effective in calming the cough, but the Theobromine was 33 percent more effective than the codeine, is by far more tastier, less expensive, lasted for about four hours and had absolutely no side effects.

The good news is that only a small amount of dark chocolate is needed to calm the cough. Dark chocolate contains about 450 milligrams of Theobromine per ounce. The study was conducted with the amount similar to two ounces of dark chocolate. Children should require only about one ounce of dark chocolate since their body weight is significantly less than an adult. The subject of dark chocolate keeping you up at night should not be a concern. Although chocolate has a similar chemical make-up to caffeine, it has not been shown to interfere with sleep. Theobromine was also a popular ingredient in asthma medication a few years back. It relaxes the bronchial passages as well allowing for better breathing.

Having trouble with your memory? Always check with your doctor first, but maybe some cocoa or dark chocolate in your diet

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