Montezuma's Bar Library, Chocolate Bars In Various Flavours, Gluten Free, 5 x 90g Bars (450g Total)

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Regular consumption of chocolate bars containing plant sterols and cocoa flavanols as part of a low-fat diet supported cardiovascular health by lowering cholesterol and improving blood pressure Historically, libraries were places which increased knowledge. It’s exciting to see that the Selfridges Chocolate Library offers a lot of scope for fascinating – and delicious – research. Cocoa ingestion decreased fatty acid synthesis and transport in liver and white adipose tissues, determining a body weight, mesenteric white adipose tissue weight and serum triacylglycerol concentrations lower in rats fed the cocoa diet than in those fed the mimetic cocoa diet The Chocolate Library will comprise of over 400 new chocolate bars, ranging from A-Z, so whether customers are after something dark and sultry, heavily loaded with 70% cacao, a bean to bar (made from the producers who own the plantation) such as Willies Cacao, or just a plain bar of good old milk chocolate – Selfridges has the widest range of chocolate in the UK.

We started in 2008 with one simple mission: to make well designed quirky gifts that are a pleasure to give.Cocoa appeared in Europe in 1528, when the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés brought samples of cocoa to King Charles of Spain, spreading the great effects of the beverage prepared from this “brown gold” [ 3, 4]. It was in 1753 that the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus named the cocoa plant Theobroma cacao, from the Latin name Theobroma [literally ‘food of the Gods’], and the Aztec word xocolatl [i.e., xococ (bitter) and atl (water)] [ 5].

Cocoa and flavonols improve glucose homeostasis by slowing carbohydrate digestion and absorption in the gut [ 47, 48]. Indeed, cocoa extracts and procyanidins dose-dependently inhibit pancreatic α-amylase, pancreatic lipase, and secreted phospholipase A2 [ 48, 49]. Cocoa and its flavonols improve insulin sensitivity by regulating glucose transport and insulin signaling proteins in insulin-sensitive tissues (liver, adipose tissue, and skeletal muscle) preventing in these tissues oxidative and inflammatory damage associated with the disease [ 47]. In younger and normal body-weight men, the results from the Physicians’ Health Study reported an inverse relation of chocolate consumption with incident diabetes [ 50]. In a multiethnic United States cohort, authors found a lower risk of developing T2D in subjects with the highest intake of chocolate products and cocoa-derived flavonoids [ 51]. A dose-response meta-analysis, however, suggested a nonlinear association between chocolate consumption and the risk of T2D, with a peak protective effect at 2 servings/week and no benefit recorded when increasing consumption was above 6 servings/week [ 52]. The characteristics of chocolate were long ignored in Europe owing to difficulties with an environment unfavorable to its growth. The natural habitat of the cocoa tree is the lower level of an evergreen rain forest. Cocoa plants respond well to relatively high temperatures (with a maximum annual average of 30–32 °C and minimum average of 18–21 °C) and generally high relative humidity: often as much as 100% during the day, falling to 70–80% at night [ 6]. According to the latest published data of the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), the total world production of cocoa beans in 2016–17 was 4,739,000 tons, principally from Africa (3,622,000 tons) [ 7]. We have enjoyed becoming chocolate manufacturers as well as product designers as we believe it sets us apart from the competition.chocolatey_central_management_url: https://chocolatey-central-management:24020/ChocolateyManagementService Cocoa intake affected the growth of certain species of gut microbiota in rats and changes in the toll-like receptor pattern and in the intestinal immune system According to other in vitro studies, cocoa inhibits the growth of cancer cells; however, the exact anticancer mechanisms are poorly understood [ 57, 58]. A meta-analysis showed that, in the short term (2–12 weeks), dark chocolate/cocoa consumption can significantly lower total and LDL cholesterol levels, but has no effect on high-density lipoprotein HDL and triglycerides [ 73]. Similar results derive from a placebo-controlled cross-over study, in which daily consumption of cocoa flavonol-containing dark chocolate bars with added plant sterols significantly reduced serum total and LDL cholesterol [ 74]. Cocoa and chocolate act as functional foods, since both carry a number of substances contributing to beneficial health effects. Chocolate combines some organoleptic characteristics with aphrodisiac and antidepressant properties, extending its effects beyond the cardiovascular system, metabolic diseases, CNS diseases, and psychological profiles.

Whichever delivery option you select, feel free to add more of our products to your basket - you will only be charged the delivery fee once. No support to association between chocolate consumption and risk of atrial fibrillation among male physicians

Chocolate consumption was associated with lower risk of myocardial infarction and ischemic heart disease Dark chocolate enhanced cognitive function and cholinergic activity in the hippocampus and corrected metabolic disturbances of rats Normal weight obese syndrome consists of an excessive body fat associated with a normal BMI, and a higher risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A group of normal weight obese women consuming dark chocolate (100 g/day, 70% cocoa) for a short period (one week) displayed a rise in the HDL cholesterol levels, and a decrease of the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio and abdomen circumference. The authors concluded that the regular consumption of dark chocolate would help in maintaining a good atherogenic profile, due to the favorable effects on HDL cholesterol, lipoprotein ratios, and possibly on inflammation markers [ 75]. In the last years, the treatment of different ovarian cancer cell lines with various concentrations of cocoa procyanidin-rich extract, inducing cytotoxicity and chemosensitization, showed a significant percentage of cells in sub-G1/G0 (hypodiploid) phase, which increased with increasing concentration, and a significant accumulation of cells in the S phase was seen [ 62]. This effect is probably due to an increase in intracellular levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) [ 63]. In an animal study, a diet containing dark chocolate reduced the total number of aberrant crypt foci in the colon. The effect was associated with down-regulation in the transcription levels of both COX-2 and ReIA [ 64]. In addition, cocoa significantly decreased the tumor incidence and size in mice with colitis-associated cancer [ 65]. No I mean it – Senfridges has now opened a chocolate library with one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of chocolate. Now, I was surprised to not see chocolate philanthropist Askinosie there given how much he does for the communities he works with but I gues Selfridges still has to work on their ethical chocolate selection. Thankfully they do have Original Beans chocolate who plant a tree for each bar sold.

Having a major chocolate retailer placing the focus on the chocolate bar, rather than the truffle, is a significant moment in the UK chocolate scene. Danish chocolate maker Mikkel Friis-Holm (well represented in the Selfridges Chocolate Library) is a noted exponent and champion of the chocolate bar format. “The ‘bar format’ gives me the same possibilities as a bottle does for the wine-maker,” he tells us. “We have made an extensive range of single bean chocolate in this range – we can express the difference in taste between the different varities. We have also made the Chuno 70% bar in two different formats, where the difference is in the post-harvest fermentation process. The potential for working with the final taste of chocolate is endless.” Regular cocoa consumption could be related to preventing or improving health imbalance induced by allergic processes [ 89]. The positive effects of cocoa flavonoids on the immune system (related to several allergic mechanisms) are known, such as reducing the release of mediators, restoring the balance of T-helper 1 and T-helper 2 cells [ 90], and down-regulation of IgE production [ 89, 91]. By contrast, chocolate is one of the main potentially allergenic foods that is also capable of causing hypersensitivity reactions, manifesting different clinical symptoms (e.g., fatigue, irritability, insomnia, headache, asthma, and diarrhea) which appear in a few hours or days after food intake [ 92]. Participants with higher chocolate consumption and higher flavanol intake from cocoa products experienced a lower risk of developing type-2 diabetesAt present, further translational and prospective studies need to explore the intrinsic mechanisms of cocoa’s anticancer action to support its use as a co-adjuvant in preventing and treating cancer [ 18]. if ("chocolatey-license" -in (choco list --localonly --limitoutput | ConvertFrom-Csv -Header "Name" -Delimiter "|").Name) { A study conducted on rats fed with cocoa diet for 6 weeks highlighted a significant reduction of percent of Bacteroides, Clostridium, and Staphylococcus, changes of tool-like reception expression, and a reduction of immunoglobulin A intestinal secretion, significantly correlated with the decrease in the proportion of the Clostridium and Streptococcus [ 78]. Cocoa flavanol and procyanidin supplementation significantly increased plasma epicatechin and catechin concentrations and significantly decreased platelet function Chocolate diet-fed animals downregulated transcription levels of COX-2 and RelA and lowered the proliferation index