Conference turris::cooks

869.0. "Chocolate is Not (All) Bad" by PSTJTT::TABER (Alimentary, my dear Watson) Thu Dec 10 1987 15:02

"Chocolate's Role in Cavity Prevention"
  from Insight Magazine, Dec 14 1987 issue.
  [typos, spellos, and comments in brackets are mine.]

Indulging in some forms of chocolate may help prevent cavities, not 
promote them.  So argue researchers at the Uinversity of Texas Health 
Science Center, who hope that a two-year study will enable them to 
pinpoint and extract the ingredient that might act as a cavity 
deterrent.

Preliminary evidence, including a 1960's study in shich  hamsters fed
cocoa developed fewer cavities and a later study of adolescents dieting
largely on chocolate skim milk [ no kidding -- they really said that.]
who had less dental plaque than people on a normal diet, has led
researchers to speculate that an ingredient in cocoa inhibits the enzyme
that breaks down sucrose into glucose and fructose.  Glucose forms
plaque on the tooth surface and fructose ferments to a tooth-decaying
acid. 

"We first have to isolate the inhibitor substance in cocoa, work out its 
properties and then purify the extract," says Alan D. Elbein, a 
professor of biochemistry at the university's San Antonio campus.  "Then 
if we find that it does indeed prevent cavities, the next step is to 
chemically synthesize this substance.  But right now, we have no idea 
how much would be needed or how easy the extraction process will be." 
Elbein and the colleagues will analyze both the whole cacao bean and the 
beans' fine, brown powder.