Chocolate, food of the gods, is attributed as many evils as benefits, depending on the perspective from which you look at it. Beyond the pure pleasurable experience that devouring it produces, we owe almost all of its benefits to cocoa and the substances it contains, a true source of healthy properties. However, also cocoa can be toxic for the human being. As they say, the poison is in the dose.
The culprit of this toxicity is a alkaloid considered in the group of so-called socially accepted drugs, addictive substances that ‘hook’ on a much smaller scale than those considered dangerous and which, therefore, are prohibited. Chocolate was banned for a time, but it was for other reasons more linked to power and morality than to a concern for health.
Those with a sweet tooth or those who are most passionate about chocolate usually – we usually – say a little sardonically that we are addicted to its consumption, and in fact we would not be lying. It may not have the same hooking effects or produce the same withdrawal syndrome as other more harmful drugs such as opiates, tobacco or other alkaloids, but it does have similar effects on the body, on a smaller scale. A addiction enhanced by other components that are usually added to chocolate or sweets that contain it, such as sugar and fats.
The addictive power of chocolate
Sweets are addictive. We are biologically designed to enjoy sweet flavors and avoid bitter ones, although, luckily, the palate can also be trained. If we do nothing to stop it, habitual consumption of sweets will make us want eat them more and more frequently, and the presence of fat makes it difficult for us to stop or take it in small doses. The classic “I open a package of cookies and eat it in one sitting without realizing it.”
Cocoa is an addictive substance that stimulates the nervous system
Chocolate is addictive because that sweetness hooks and we also link it to pleasant moments, leisure and recreation, linked to childhood memories, etc. And it produces a pleasant effect on the brain, stimulating the central nervous system. Even disinhibit and wake up, like caffeine, a substance that is also addictive and also present in chocolate. Or, rather, in cocoa.
The toxic cocoa alkaloid
If we do without that addictive sugar and added fats, leaving us with a bar of chocolate with 99% or even 100% cocoa, it would still be addictive, and also potentially toxic. Because the purer the chocolate is, in addition to being richer in fat, the more it concentrates micronutrients and substances such as theobromine.
Theobromine is a chemical compound present naturally in numerous foods, but which received its name precisely because it is linked to cocoa (Theobroma cacao). It’s about a plant alkaloid with a bitter taste, similar to caffeine, to which numerous effects on the body are attributed: it is a stimulating mild, diuretic and vasodilator. This means that it can produce pleasure, happiness and relaxation, by reducing blood pressure.
The problem is that it is also a toxic substance. In fact, cocoa is extremely dangerous for animals such as dogs and cats, who should also never be given human treats.
A, say, chocolate overdose could cause loss of appetite, tachycardiasevere headaches, excessive sweating, tremors, dizziness, nausea and vomiting. And by lowering blood pressure by accelerating the heart rate, it could become mortal.
How much chocolate can kill you
Fortunately, we would have to eat very, very much chocolate at once so that it would have a fatally toxic effect on our body. Most likely, we would have to go to the emergency room sooner due to severe gastrointestinal problems.
Theobromine is considered toxic to humans after consuming 1,000 milligrams per kilo of body weight. As it explains Claire Maldarelli in Popular Sciencea 75 kilo person would have to ingest 75,000 milligrams of theobromine to experience poisoning and begin to manifest symptoms.
How does that figure translate into quantities of chocolate? It depends on the chocolate in question. If we talk only about chocolates, tablets or similar, we have to look at the level or cocoa percentage that you have. The purer it is, the healthier it is, but also the more potentially toxic.
Approximately, milk chocolate contains about 2.4 milligrams of theobromine for each gram of chocolate -depending on the brand-; Standard dark chocolate, with a minimum of 50% cocoa, provides about 5.5 milligrams per gram; a chocolate higher puritybordering on 100%, can exceed 16 milligrams of toxin for each gram of chocolate.
So we just have to do the -approximate- calculations based on our favorite chocolates to know how much should we eat from one sitting to dying from an overdose. For example, a button; This is the amount calculated by Maldarelli taking as reference three very popular products of the brand Hershey’s:
- 711 chocolate bars of 43 g of milk chocolate with a very low percentage of cocoa.
- 332 chocolate bars of 41 g of dark chocolate 43% cocoa.
- 7,084 mini chocolate bars’kisses‘ of 4.5 g of milk chocolate.
It is difficult to calculate exactly the amount of theobromine contained in the most common chocolates in supermarkets in Spain, since the exact size and percentage of cocoa are different depending on the brandsand also varies depending on the type of cocoa in origin, its processing or the other ingredients added.
Milk Chocolate Hershey Kisses – 150 g
*Some prices may have changed since the last review
Be that as it may, we get an idea, since we don’t believe that anyone could fit even a hundred ordinary chocolate bars between their chest and back. Our stomach would say “enough” before becoming intoxicated by the alkaloid, and we would probably end up with terrible stomach and gut pain.
Photos | Freepik – kroshka-nastya – wirestock
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