Tag Archives: liver

Fish, dark chocolate, and red wine.

Fish oil fatty acids: EPA & DHA.

I’ve read that EPA tends to show slightly better results in outcomes related to mood, whereas DHA tends to be slightly better for cognition.  Not mutually exclusive; probably a lot of overlap.  This meta-analysis by Martins showed EPA fared better than DHA for depressive symptoms (2009); another one here, stressing the high %EPA relative to %DHA necessary for improvements (Sublette et al., 2011).  Whereas the reverse is true for certain cognitive outcomes in this study by Sinn and colleagues (2012).  Very few studies test EPA vs. DHA directly, and their effects on metabolism are relatively similar.  They’re the ball bearings of fatty acids.epa dpa dha

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Going Dutch on Dark Chocolate

During the production of dark chocolate, cacao beans are fermented, roasted, and processed into 3 components: chocolate liquorcocoa butter, and cocoa powder.  These are combined in various proportions to make unsweetened chocolate.  Sugar can be added to make dark chocolate, or milk & sugar added for milk chocolate.  White chocolate has no cocoa; it’s essentially cocoa butter, sugar, and milk.

ChocolateManufacturingChart

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