Anonymous Modernist 16868

Hi Sachishah, Here is a good summary of the various research that has been conducted on the health effects of chocolate. http://people.umass.edu/curtis/academics/researchtoolbox/pdfs/westover_review.pdf Essentially, there is wide disagreement in this field. Some findings conclude that chocolate contains beneficial compounds; others find that the amount of such compounds is too low to actually create a benefit. Some researchers concluded that regular cocoa consumption lowered cardiovascular risks, whereas other researchers found exactly the opposite. Not all chocolates are created equal. Most of the chocolate candies consumed by children are larded up with fat and sugar that probably negate any positive effects (if they exist) of the cocoa. Thus, many people choose high quality dark chocolate over candy aisle Halloween candy. If you like to eat chocolate, a couple small squares (<10 grams) a day shouldn't greatly affect your health either way. Larissa

Hi Mike, I'd seen GABA rice in the supermarket but was not more familiar with it. I'm able to locate only a few scientific papers that discuss the effects of GABA, and those studies were conducted on mice or cultured cells, not humans. One, for example, found that more mouse and human cancer cells treated with germinated brown rice extract experienced cell death than did those treated with non-germinated rice, which contains less GABA. (See here for the paper abstract: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/109662004322984653) However, that is hardly equivalent to treating or preventing cancer in humans. This study is in the vein of other studies that attribute positive health claims to single molecular components of a food, instead of looking at its broad physiological effects in the context of diet and other environmental factors. In the case of GABA, I'd say that the available data shows, at best, that more research is needed. As for cooking GABA rice, are you using a cooker with a GABA setting that requires a 2-hr soak? If that doesn't fit your cooking schedule, how about soaking it at lower temperatures outside of the rice cooker for, say, 16-20 hours? (This blogger seems to have a good amount of experience: http://chowdivine.com/germinated-brown-rice) Cheers, Larissa from the Modernist Cuisine team