It may have no adverse effect on cholesterol. And while all this may not stick to the teeth, it does stick to the hips. Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, or theobroma cacao, which grows in tropical regions 20 degrees north and south of the equator. Cacao pods are harvested, then split open to reveal the pulp and beans. After fermentation, the beans are roasted and the shells and seed germ removed to leave the essence, or nib.
Cocoa butter is the fat that's removed from the liquor.
It's saturated fat, but is composed mostly of the relatively safe stearic acid, not the nasty stuff, palmitic acid. What remains after the cocoa butter is removed is cocoa powder. To a food chemist, chocolate is complicated stuff. Among the polyphenols, the most important to chocolate chemists are the flavonoids, which contribute the chocolately flavor. Japan, they're not studying it.