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Q6.
Chocolate is made from the seeds of the tree Theobroma cacao. The ancient Aztecs used the beans
of the cacao tree as a form of money The Aztecs discovered that by crushing the beans into a paste
and adding spices, they could make a refreshing and nourishing drink. This drink was very bitter, not
like our chocolate drinks today. 16th century European explorers brought the drink back from their
travels, added sugar, and soon it was popular as an expensive luxury.
Q7.
You can receive a 'sweet tooth' from your parents. Recent study at New York University suggests
there is a genetic reason why some people prefer sugary foods. The study was based on two groups
of mice. The parents of the first group were given sweetened water and the parents of the second -
unsweetened water. The team found the gene that was different in the two groups of mice and then
looked for similar genetic chains in humans.
Q8.
All modern chocolate products have large amounts of sugar, a fact which may partly explain why it
becomes a sort of drug for some people. An ability to recognize sweet things, and a tendency to like
them was very useful for our forefathers. Such a genetic quality made prehistoric humans look for
energy-rich, healthy and tasty food such as fruit, and helped them avoid bitter-tasting poisonous
plants.
Q9.
Like other sweet food, chocolate helps endorphins, natural hormones, that give us the feelings of
pleasure and well-being, to appear in our body. Chocolate also makes us feel good by reacting with
our brains. Scientists say that some people may develop chocoholism — a dependency on
chocolate. So it's just possible that, with every bar of chocolate, your brain changes step by step in
order to make you love chocolate more and more!
Q10.
Back in the 17th and 18th centuries, many scientific works were written explaining the advantages of
chocolate for medicine, and today it's a regular food in army rations. Chocolate could help prevent
tooth decay, according to scientists at Japan's Osaka University. The cocoa beans from which
chocolate is made have an antibacterial agent that fights tooth decay. These parts of the beans are
not usually used in chocolate production, but in future they could be added back into chocolate to
make it friendly for teeth.
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