Chocolate and Affairs of the Heart

It has been 220 years since Thomas Jefferson penned the following words to John Adams: "The superiority of chocolate, both for health and nourishment, will soon give it the same preference over tea and coffee in America which it has in Spain." These prophetic words seem to resurface repeatedly in the consciousness of consumers and the food industry—and in the world of medical nutrition.

Montezuma is said to have presented Cortez in 1519 with chocolatl, a warm liquid extract from cocoa beans. The …