Why Chocolate Makes Us Happy

Sephra Chocolate Facts

TRYPTOPHAN
This amino acid is found in small quantities in chocolate and is used by the brain to make serotonin, the neurotransmitter that can produce feelings of happiness.

PHENYLETHYLALANINE
Promotes feelings of attraction, excitement and nervousness and is associated with the initial euphoria of falling in love. It has also been isolated in chocolate. This chemical also acts as an anti-depressant by combining with dopamine that is naturally present in the brain.

THEOBROMINE
A weak stimulant that works alongside caffeine to produce the characteristic ‘high’ that many people experience after getting their chocolate fix. Scientists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego suggest that chocolate contains substances that produce a cannabis-like effect on the brain. But don’t get too excited – you would have to ingest more than 25 pounds of chocolate in one sitting to get ‘high’ in the same way.

ANOTHER REASON TO BE PLEASED
Scientists have confirmed that dark chocolate is beneficial for our health. The greater cocoa content provides high concentrations of antioxidants called flavonoids, which reportedly prevent cancers, protect blood vessels, promote cardiac health, and counteract high blood pressure.

Cinema Science

Chocolate Fountain Warehouse Popcorn - a Natural Ad Blocker

Science says eating popcorn at the movies makes us immune to advertisements.

Researches at Cologne University, Germany, have discovered that snacking whilst at the cinema significantly disrupts the effectiveness of pre-movie advertising. Their findings show that whenever our brains are introduced to a new brand name we will subconsciously simulate its pronunciation. This then helps the message become engrained in our minds, which in turn benefits advertisers.

Eating popcorn whilst pre-movie adverts are showing interrupts the subconscious act of brand pronunciation and therefore reduces the adverts effectiveness.

In order to prove this theory was correct, the researchers took 96 people of mixed gender and race to the movies. Half the participants were given popcorn and the other half a sugar cube. The sugar cube dissolved quickly leaving the mouth free to move during the commercials. The popcorn however, lasted the duration of the commercials plus more.

A week following the experiment, the participants were presented with images of a series of products, of which only half had been advertised within the session. They were then asked to indicate the products, which interested them.

The participants who had received only the sugar cube showed positive physiological responses towards the advertised products. Due to their mouths being free to simulate the pronunciation of the advertised brands, the sugar cube participants had a subconscious familiarity with the product names. The participants who had received popcorn showed no such advertising effect.

In conclusion, the activity of eating popcorn disturbed the inner speech, which enables brands to remain subconsciously familiar within the brain. This therefore reduces the effects of visual advertisement.

Sources: University of Cologne: Popcorn in the Cinema.

Chocolate – The Truth.

The facts about chocolate from chocolate fountain warehouse

With news that a cup of hot cocoa can prevent the onset of dementia, further studies have been completed in order to look at other health benefits.

JS Fry & Sons produced the first British chocolate bar in 1847. The Cadbury brothers produced their own version two years later and since then it has been the most popular edible indulgence. The British public not being able to get enough of the stuff, feeling guilty about eating it, then reading studies that tell us it may be wonderfully health giving after all.

SO THE TRUTH IS?

Chocolate contains more healthy plant compounds, gram for gram, than many fruit juices. Naturally containing good amounts of antioxidant super-nutrients known as flavonoids. Chocolate and cocoa that is rich in flavonoids has been shown to have anti-clotting and anti-inflammatory effects, which could lower the risk of heart disease. Flavonoids also may help to lower blood pressure as they produce nitric oxide, which helps to widen blood vessels.

Most of the research is based on people eating more than 100g of chocolate a day. The fact that the fats and sugars added to pure cocoa in order to produce more appetising chocolates such as milk and white, may cancel out the benefits.

IS CHOCOLATE AN APHRODISIAC?

One theory is that chocolate contains a mood-boosting chemical called phenylethylamine (PEA), which is also produced in the brain when a person is in love. The hormones it releases can trigger feelings of euphoria. That’s why some people eat more chocolate when they’re depressed.

A study done in 2006 explored whether women who had chocolate every day had a higher libido than those who didn’t. At first it seemed to be true but when the data was adjusted the libidos were too similar to make an accurate reading. What may be closer to the truth is that a happy woman is more compliant than an unhappy one and the way to make her happy is to shower her with chocolates.

CAN A SLAB MAKE YOU SLIM?

There has been a suggestion that it may increase your metabolism. If that were the case these benefits would cancel out the extra calories consumed?

A study conducted by the University of California proved that adults who ate the treat frequently had a lower body mass index than those who didn’t. The link was still there even when other factors, such as how much exercise people took, were taken into account.

The findings suggested that the composition of calories, not just the number of them, matters for determining their ultimate impact on weight.

DOES IT MAKE YOU CLEVER?

A researcher called Franz Messerli of Columbia University in New York took the number of Nobel Prize winners in a country as an indicator of national intelligence and correlated it with that nation’s chocolate consumption. Switzerland came top, with the highest consumption per head and also the highest number of Nobel laureates per capita. At the other end of the scale was China, which scored low on both counts.

“When you correlate the two – the consumption with the number of Nobel Prize laureates per capita – there is an incredibly close relationship,” he said.

WILL IT MAKE YOU MORE BEAUTIFUL?

Beauty treatments often use raw cocoa powder as a main ingredient in facial treatments. This comes back to those antioxidants, which reduces free-radical damage that can come from pollution such as sunburn, cigarette smoke and alcohol.

So if you’re not up for eating it every day, you can always wrap yourself in a sweet coating, to make all your blemishes disappear.

Crepes in your Business

Sephra Crepe Machine

Why you should have a crepe maker in your business.

Chocolate Fountain Warehouse are proud to introduce the Sephra Crepes maker to there range of products. This high quality professional machine is manufactured in Europe, we also provide a large variety of accessories all of which are the best quality in the industry. Crepes offer an extremely high profit margin to any business given the low cost of our ‘add water only’ luxury crepe mix.

Over the last year the popularity of crepes has been rising worldwide, specifically within the United Kingdom. The word crepe being seen on dessert menus throughout the UK was the beginning of the phenomenon and now slowly but surely we have begun to see them creep onto the breakfast menus too. 

A crepe maker in your restaurant, kiosk, cafe, hotel or buffet will allow you to provide a low cost dessert/breakfast option which brings customers back time and time again. Whether as part of a buffet or a centre piece within a kiosk, crepe makers offer a very cost effective and engaging way to serve a great number of people easily. With an almost endless list of things you can cover your crepe with, there is no limit to what you can offer your customers.