Chocolate and ALS - Lou Gehrig's Disease

Smith Organic Chocolates recently received business from what we would classify as an unusual customer.

I searched the Internet, I Googled. But I could not find a connection between Chocolate and...

ALS - or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Our new customer suffers from ALS, a disease that "affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body.

"The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually leads to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed." (copied from the ALS website.)

Yet, our new customer says she feels better when she eats chocolate. She eats it every day. She was referred to us by her chiropractor, who was helping her find healthier chocolate to eat.

So - here's my disclaimer! I am not a scientist, I am not a health practitioner...but

Here's my opinion: (and my gut feeling)

We've been discussing the different effects of caffiene vs. theobromine in the body. We showed that caffiene gives you that "up" feeling, but you'll eventually come "down" from it, and it doesn't last very long, before you need more.

Whereas theobromine, the active stimulant in chocolate that is a close cousin to caffiene, gives you energy, and stimulates you over a period of time. You may get a feeling of "well being" from eating chocolate - a lot of people report that.

So...it's my guess that the theobromine in chocolate is helping to gently stimulate our ALS friend and helps her get through the day.

Remember, I said it was only a guess! If there are scientific studies on it - I didn't find them. What do you think? Post a comment and let us know.

Smith Organic Chocolates is dedicated to bringing you up-to-date information regarding chocolate and it's nutritional value, as well as the value of eating organic.