The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-31
CHOCOLATE NO LONGER TABOO
Its Good Points as Food, Especially
 in the Temperate Zone

From the Pan American Union Bulletin Not so many years ago tho drink called chocolate was thought to be a reckless dissipation for one who had regard for his or her stomach. To in- dulge in chocolate candy was quite as pernicious as to eat tomatoes, and with quite as much reason. Chocolate was an exotic and bizarre drink, told about by travellers who had ventured into Mexico and Spain, but today 1t Is even ordered in the sick room and. at least In the form of caeao from which the fats have largely been removed, 1t is considered both digestible and nourish- ing.
 What difference the scientific study of dietetics has brought about. Sugar that is carbohydrates-is now acknowl- edged to be normal part of human food; in certain circumstances a necessary part of it. and any way to get sugar
 into the system so that 1t will be agree ably assimilated is to help nature to ac- complish her proper ends. The carbohy- drates are the accessory ingredients sup plying energy 10 the body above that which may be obtained from the proteids.
 The harder the physical work an in- dividual performs the more proteids must he eat, and up to a certain point the less sugar does he require; but in ordinary life the individual requires q dietetic mixture of protelds, fats and sweets, while under conditions In which muscular tissue has been rapidly ex- hausted sugar has the faculty of re- storing energy quickly. and therefore of making the heavier foods accomplish better results.
 The starchy doods like potatoes are useful in all dietaries. but when immedi- ate results are sought, sugar must be used. Yet plain sugar in dietary will not invariably be acceptable to the hu- man animal and nothing makes sugar so agreeable as a due proportion of chocolate added. Ask any child what kind of candy he likes best, and the almost invarlable reply will be. "Choco- late candy" ask an adult what kind of ashamed remembrance of youthful days, when to indulge in cake was a seldom permitted but frequently eiandestine 1uxury the answer Is 'chocolate cake" '" The school girl makes fudge. Tho soda water fountain would go into bank ruptcy If tho chocolate sundae were withdrawn from the list of attractions, and a chocolate eclaire would be a com mon cream puff If the brown layer were scraped off the top
 As an inhabitant of the polar regions craves fat of some kind and as an- other in the tropics enjoys his fruits and his hot peppers-both nature hints in regard to diet-so the inhabitant in the temperate zone consumes sugar and is unharmed thereby, provided there is no overindulgence. That explains why so much sugar is carried from the tropics to the north; 1t Is a food necessity. It explains also why the manufacture of cacao and the chief consumers are in the countries where no production is carried on. Proximity to the consumers is a rec ogpzed rule in manufacturing
 The United States heads the table of cacao users. for the people number the most, but in proportion to population this country takes no more than its share. GeEv-any, France and England consume anu ally considerable auanti- ties of cacao, but Holland and Switzer- land nse an amount far in excess of their inhabitants. They must therefore be exporters of finished article, either cocoa or chocolate.