Addicted to chocolate? Science wants YOU

Science is always trying to give us the good news when it comes to chocolate.

It can cut your risk of heart disease (in very small doses), it makes you thinner (but not everyone) and lowers your blood pressure (dark chocolate and only in small amounts).

But what science hasn’t really been able to tell us is why some people find it irresistible and others can just take it or leave it.

Enter Queensland University of Technology Institute of Heath and Biomedical Innovation PhD candidate, Stephanie Fay.

Ms Fay hopes to discover why some of us are a slave to the cocoa bean.

“What we are really doing is trying to uncover individual differences in food preferences that might drive differences in eating behaviour,” Ms Fay said.

“We know there are quite strong differences in the types of food people like and also the different circumstances in which they eat them. This study is really focusing on snacking, in particular sweet snacking, looking at the characteristics of people who tend to indulge in that type of snacking and as well, a large part of the study is also looking at the environmental cues that might provoke certain people to snack more than others.”

Examining the environmental cue responses may explain why some people follow seeing those advertising images of rivers of melted chocolate with reaching for a block of the real thing.

“It really is quite difficult to escape these little memory prompts (advertising, stores, food images) and we are wondering if certain people are more susceptible than others to these prompts,” Ms Fay said.

A savoury study is set to follow and Ms Fay hopes her findings may help provide solutions to tackling Australia’s obesity epidemic.

“Obviously, there are huge rates of overweight [people] and obesity across Australia and worldwide and snacking in particular is thought to play quite a strong role in this increase,” she said.

“So if we can uncover the reasons for people’s behaviours, maybe try to work out exactly what is going on and whether snacking is healthy and if not, what are the sorts of different people who might be more responsive to various interventions.”

Ms Fay is looking for volunteers willing to eat chocolate for science.

Those interested in participating should email stephanie.fay@qut.edu.au.

Source: Brisbane Times

Chocolate eggs recalled

Australia’s two major supermarket chains recalled brands of chocolate eggs on the eve of the Easter long weekend.

Coles is recalling five batches of Heritage brand Belgian Milk Chocolate Egg with chocolate truffles in a 270g package, sold exclusively through Coles supermarkets.

The product contains almond, hazelnut and gluten but they are not listed in the ingredients due to a labelling error.

Victoria’s acting chief health officer Dr Michael Ackland said consumers with an almond, hazelnut or gluten allergy or intolerance should not eat the product and return it to its place of purchase for a full cash refund.

No other Heritage products are affected by the recall.

Dr Ackland said there has been no known illness associated with the product.

Woolworths has recalled two Macro Wholefoods Market dark chocolate lactose-free products sold at Woolworths, Safeway, Food for Less and Flemings supermarkets nationally.

The Macro Dark Chocolate Lactose Free Bunny and Macro Dark Chocolate Lactose Free Easter Egg and Twist Sweets are being recalled due to the presence of an undeclared allergen milk which occurred in a labelling error.

Source: Sky News

Easter Bunny to Easter Bilby

Australians could be eating chocolate bilbies instead of bunnies during Easter with the help of Darrell Lea and conservationists.

The marsupial is struggling to survive in the wild thanks to wild rabbits destroying their natural habitat.

Conservationists at wildlife park, Wild Life Sydney want to bring greater awareness to the difficulties the animal faces by making chocolate bilbies the chocolate animal of easter.

'Look, the reason that we want to highlight the bilby as an iconic Easter animal is, number one, rabbits are a pest in Australia. Secondly, the bilby has these lovely endearing rabbit-like qualities. And thirdly, the bilby is a beautiful, iconic, native animal that is struggling. It is endangered, so it's important that we do all we can to support that.' Mike Drinkwater from Wild Life Sydney said.

Many stores are already displaying chocolate bilbies, Darrell Lea is sponsoring bilby breeding programmes and question why anyone would want to buy an Easter Bunny when they could have an Easter Bilby instead.

'Given that the bilbies have suffered so greatly due to the introduction of rabbits, it's directly linked to a very important education and conservation message,' said Drinkwater.

The Wild Life Sydney park is home to a colony of four female long-eared silky-furred bilbies, who are joined by some native Australian spinifex hopping mice.

Source: Sky News