Chocolate as medicine: A changing framework of evidence throughout history

Abstract

In 1753, the noted nosologist, Carl Linnaeus, named it Theobroma cacao, food of the Gods. Two and a half centuries later, Joanne Harris emphasized this exotic's erotic sensations in her award winning fiction debut, Chocolat. For millennia, healers have touted its myriad medicinal, yet mystical, abilities. By the 1950s, chocolate, what had long been used as a drug, a food and as a source of currency, was being marketed merely as a pleasure-filled snack. Over the next half century, the craving to carve out chocolate's healthy, medicinal qualities resurged.