Food Expert Says Heart-Shaped Valentine's Chocolates May Be Good for Your Heart

Food Expert Says Heart-Shaped Valentine's Chocolates May Be Good for Your Heart

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Heart-shaped chocolates are definitely good for your relationships-and they might even be good for your heart, according to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America.

"Giving candy to your sweetheart on Valentine's Day has been a tradition since the end of the Civil War, when the price of sugar went down just as American confectioners were learning new ways to make chocolate sweeter and longer-lasting," notes Andrew F. Smith, editor of the award-winning Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. "Recent evidence, however, shows that chocolate may have some therapeutic value in treating heart disease."

Some forms of dark chocolate contain high levels of two compounds-flavonols and procyanidins-that demonstrate antioxidant and anticlotting activity, along with the ability to improve arterial blood flow in clinical trials.

That doesn't mean that lovers should start skipping the gym to gorge on those heart-shaped chocolate goodies. "Like all of the foods associated with love-oysters and champagne for example-chocolate is a wonderful treat that should be enjoyed in moderation."

The 2-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America is the first reference work to take American food and drink seriously. This comprehensive resource puts American cuisine into historical and cultural context, pointing out fast disappearing traditions and guiding the reader through the latest culinary controversy.

Andrew F. Smith (Popped Culture: A Social History of Popcorn in America) has assembled more than 800 articles and over 300 illustrations-many drawn from private photo collections that have never been published before-on the significant events, trends, fads, inventions, personalities, companies, and social movements in American cuisine.


Source: Oxford University Press

CONTACT: Don Myers, +1-212-726-6057, or donald.myers@oup.com

Web site: http://www.oup.com/us


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