Saturday, April 5, 2008

more on chocolate (and coffee and tea and cola)

Thought I would provide some more information on why I'm avoiding chocolate, tea, and coffee in my fibroid shrinking quest. It's because they contain methylxanthines, which "confuse chemical messengers in the body". Some detailed information on methylxanthines, as relates to fibrocystic breasts, is on this page. I have fibrocystic breasts too, and based on this page it sounds like the causes are similar to the causes of fibroids. Also, this page gives a lot of excellent information on caffeine, which is one type of methylxanthine, including the negative health effects and how to detox yourself if you have been drinking too much caffeine. I wasn't able to find any hard data, however, on a link between methylxanthines or caffeine and fibroids, only found this study which showed no link for caffeine (but did prove a link for alcohol consumption)

Also in researching this, I found this disturbing page about how all the hype about chocolate being good for you is really just that -- hype. For years I had allowed myself to splurge on chocolate thinking that it wasn't really that naughty after all, so reading this page was depressing. Also, there is some fascinating information in this page on how chocolate can contribute to copper imbalance, and how that can worsen fibroids. This is a good argument for avoiding chocolate. I'd like to learn more about this copper imbalance issue too...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh. Check out this passage, from the linked chocolate article:

If people were to consume pure cocoa, then they might indeed be able to enjoy a few health benefits,
including a positive effect on blood pressure and glucose metabolism, however the majority of people
eat processed chocolate with all the other less desirable ingredients (i.e. added sugar, corn syrup,
milk fats / dairy cream, hydrogenated oils, etc...), and where the actual cocoa content may be less than
20%, so all the bets regarding chocolate being a healthy food are off.


I have been making my own chocolate from raw organic cocoa, and it is SO MUCH BETTER than any chocolate I've ever had before. Seriously. I have been giving it to friends, and they love it too! I can't stand processed chocolate any more, even dark chocolate. Try making some yourself: I genuinely feel good eating it now, and only need a few small pieces for my "sweet tooth" to be satisfied.

I'm in two minds about the alcohol issue. I've read that the resveratrol in certain types of red wine could be beneficial for fibroids. It seems beer is the worst form of alcohol for fiboids: it is made from grain, so I'm not surprised there. That study did not seem to separate red wine or give any specific figures, either, and also was of African-American women [not my demographic].

Fibroid Shrinker said...

Excellent point about processed chocolate, all the sugar and dairy products and hydrogenated oils that are in most chocolates are not going to be helpful. If you are going to do chocolate, then raw organic is certainly the way to go! I've seen raw cocoa nibs on sale at health food stores. Another one I have tried and think is really tasty is Health by Chocolate, http://www.healthbychocolate.com/

Aboutg the reservatrol, that is interesting I have not heard before, will have to look into that some more! Indeed, my acupuncuturist told me I can have up to 3 drinks per week but if I do it's better if it's red wine...

Fibroid Shrinker said...

One more thing. It's not surprising that beer would be particularly bad for people with fibroids, since the hops used to make it are estrogenic.
http://www.swedish.org/110915.cfm