Chocolate! Can we ever get enough? Apparently not, the average American consumes 12 pounds of chocolate a year and that has rising. In fact most major holidays have some sort of chocolate product associated with them, from Easter all the way down to Christmas. And although we were not the first to use it (the Mayan’s were over 500 years ago) it seems to have become just as much a part of American culture as blue jeans and hamburgers.

What might not be so American about chocolate? Maybe it’s the fact that salmonella can be found in your Hersey’s bar. Or that although caffeine is not present in chocolate yet its cousin happens to make an appearance among the ingredients. Or the fact that most of the times chocolate products are loaded with sweets which has been proven to break down the immune system, cause obesity and on top of that a very effective carcinogen.

Studies have shown that as little as 20mg of theobromine a day can increase a man’s risk of prostate cancer by two fold. Now twenty milligrams might like a lot to get out of a serving of chocolate, but two tablespoons of chocolate syrup (1 fl oz) can easily go over the 89mg mark. Cadbury milk chocolate (one ounce) contains 44mg and chocolate flavor mix (2-3 heaping teaspoons in 8 ounces of milk) hovers at the 120mg range. Even a moderate dose of theobromine (10mg) can increase the risk of cancer dramatically. But theabromine is not the only carcinogen in chocolate. Alpha-methylbenzyl alcohol is another carcinogen found naturally in chocolate and used artificially to flavor other foods.

Salmonella is also a risk in chocolate since one of the main ingredients in most chocolate products is milk. Salmonella generally occurs in chocolate that is not heated or warmed. But it should be noted that even when it is warmed there is still a risk because of the contamination which might be present in the milk used in the product.

But probably the most striking fact about chocolate is the fact that you just might be consuming some of your everyday household pests in your favorite bar or cake. According to the FDA manufactures are allowed to have no more than 60 insect fragments per 100 grams. Also the FDA allows 1 rodent hair per 100 grams of chocolate. If the samples should exceed this amount it is considered unfit for human consumption. The reason why the FDA allows a certain amount of contamination in a lot of processed foods especially chocolate, is when it is manufactured on such a large scale basis it is almost impossible to keep out every single piece of contamination out of the product. Thus the FDA tells manufactures to keep the contamination to a certain level. Of course this is no console to you the consumer not knowing if you might be munching on a rats tail or roach wing while enjoying your Snickers bar.

So before you are tempted to pick up another ounce of chocolate give this article some thought. I’m sure if you are a man you don’t want to be lousy in the bed, and I’m almost positive that mothers would not like to know that their children might be munching on the same types of roaches she is trying to exterminate. In any case there are always substitutes and one of these happens to be carob. It tastes just like chocolate without the side effects. And since it is manufactured on such a small scale the possibility of bug wings and rat hair ending up in a packaged bar is almost nonexistent.