172 COCOA AND CHOCOLATE 



Hygiene, by Mr. Ikin and Dr. Lyster, a text book 

 written for the Board of Education Syllabus, we read, 

 p. 96 : ' ... in the better cocoas the greater part of 

 the fat is removed by heat and pressure. In this form 

 cocoa may be looked upon as almost an ideal food, as 

 it contains proteids, fats, and carbohydrates in roughly 

 the right proportions. Prepared with milk and sugar it 

 forms a highly nutritious and valuable stimulating 

 beverage." 



Stimulating Property of Cocoa. 



The mild stimulating property which cocoa possesses 

 is due to the presence of the two substances, theo- 

 bromine and caffein. The presence of theobromine is 

 peculiar to cocoa, but caffein is a stimulating principle 

 which also occurs in tea and coffee. Whilst in the 

 quantities in which they are present in cocoa (about 

 i .5 per cent, of theobromine and 0.6 per cent, of caffein) 

 they act only as agreeable stimulants, in the pure con- 

 dition, as white crystalline powders, they are powerful 

 curative agents. Caffein is well known as a specific for 

 nervous headaches, and as a heart stimulant and diuretic. 

 Theobromine is similar in action, but has the advantage 

 for certain cases, that it has much less effect on the 

 central nervous system, and for this reason it is a very 

 valuable medicine for sufferers from heart dropsy, and 

 as a tonic for senile heart. That its medicinal proper- 

 ties are appreciated is shown by its price : during 1918 

 the retail price was about 8 shillings an ounce, from 

 which we can calculate that every pound of cocoa 

 contained nearly two shillingsworth of theobromine. 



" Soluble " Cocoa. 



Whilst Forster states that treated cocoa is the most 

 digestible, experts are not in agreement as to which 

 is the more valuable foodstuff, the pure untouched 

 cocoa, or that which is treated during its manufacture 



