Skip to main content

Healthier sweets let people indulge without guilt

By

Healthier sweets let people indulge without guilt

                                      

Beauty Line Chocolat Bars were created by a well-known chocolatier and a Juntendo Univeristy professor.
TOKYO -- Sweets that look and taste like ordinary chocolates and caramels but offer health benefits are catching on in Japan. Developed by doctors and pharmacists, and sold at clinics and pharmacies, these "doctor's sweets" are a way for people with a sweet tooth to indulge without feeling guilty.
Beauty Line Chocolat Bars are priced at 890 yen a box.
     "The bite size is cute. Women like strawberry. It's delicious and the rose flavor adds elegance to it," said pharmacist Maki Sawabe, who treated herself to a Beauty Line Chocolat Bar the first day they came out in early November at the Plaza Ginza drugstore in central Tokyo. The chocolate bars, priced at 890 yen ($7.16) a box, come in green tea, milk and strawberry flavors. They have a light texture and bits of dried fruit and waffle mixed in.
A chocolate a day
They aren't just good, they're good for you. The chocolates have six essential vitamins as well as theanine, an amino acid touted as a stress reliever.
     "I'm fond of sweets, but also interested in beauty care and health. So I like this chocolate," said Kana Kamigane, a 21-year-old part-time worker. Aki Shimizu, 35, said: "I drink supplements regularly, but I think this chocolate tastes better."
     Beauty Line Chocolat Bar was developed by chocolatier Hironobu Tsujiguchi and Hiroyuki Kobayashi, a professor at the Juntendo University Faculty of Medicine. "People tend not to get enough vitamins, so eating fortified sweets is a way to supplement one's nutrition. Furthermore, theanine has a relaxing effect, making the chocolates suitable for a stressful society," Kobayashi said.
     Another player in the healthy sweets game is Dr's Chocolate. These sugar-free chocolates from Belgium are made of natural ingredients. Fumiko Araki of Shin-Ochanomizu Pharmacy in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward said the drugstore sells 150 packs a month. The latest version of the product went on sale in November at around 4,000 pharmacies and other stores around Japan for 540 yen a pack.
Sweet on you
Bar Hoshi Iris serves Dr's Chocolate as a snack.
The chocolate scores low on the glycemic index, which measures how much blood sugar rises after a food is eaten. The GI score of Dr's Chocolate is 60-70% lower than the typical chocolate and nearly the same as vegetables like cabbage," said Motherrenka President Takako Ikeda, whose company imports and sells the product. Low GI foods are believed to help the body burn fat.
     The chocolate offers health benefits but "melts easily in your mouth and is satisfying," said Minoru Suzuki, 71, who was enjoying a morsel along with a cocktail at Bar Hoshi Iris in Ginza in the evening.
     The bar has served the chocolate as a snack for several years. "Rum or Islay malt [whisky] goes well with the richness of the chocolate," said bar owner Yuichi Hoshi.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

8 Foods That Prevent Cancer

By
1.    Cauliflower Image source: Simply Scratch Cauliflower contains sulforaphane, a compound that has been shown to have anti-cancer effects. Sulforaphane are released when cauliflower is broken down, so focus on chewing it before swallowing. This compound seeks and destroys certain cancer cells without harming your healthy cells. There are plenty of recipes available online on how you can add cauliflower to your meals. Cauliflower and broccoli have similar effects, so add broccoli to your list of foods too. 2.    Carrots Image source: http://eatbelive.com/ Even though carrots are mainly thought to be good for one’s eye sight, researches from the last ten years suggest that they are also good against some types of cancer, one of which is prostate cancer. A study was done on mice who were fed an increased carrot intake, and the study showed that carrots could stop the growth of prostate cancer. Carrot have many other health benefi...
Post a Comment
Read more

The first stethoscope

By
René Laennec, a French doctor and inventor was born 235 years ago today, and Google has marked his birthday with a Doodle. Dr Laennec's importance to modern medicine was guaranteed by his invention of the very first stethoscope in 1816. Here are five things you (probably) didn't know about him : 1. Dr Laennec's stethoscope bears little semblance to the modern stethoscope. Unlike those used today, Dr Laennec's stethoscope was not a set of ear pieces connected by a plastic tube to a chest piece. His stethoscopes were simple cylinders made from wood and metal. The doctor using it would simply place it directly over the area in question and listen at the other end. 2. His first stethoscope was a rolled up piece of paper Described in his  1819 treatise  on this device, Dr Laennec invented the stethoscope while treating a young woman suffering from symptoms of heart disease. 3. The stethoscope was not his only contribution to medical science I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note First Impressions

By
Lenovo has kicked off 2016 with the new Vibe K4 Note smartphone. Those familiar with Lenovo's Note series might get puzzled with the addition of the Vibe moniker to the name, especially given the success of Lenovo K3 Note last year. Head of Product and Marketing at Lenovo Smartphones in India, Anuj Sharma, clarified that the new K4 Note has been integrated with the Vibe series of smartphones. While we are not sure if this has anything to do with the rumours that Lenovo may discontinue its Vibe range to prevent cannibalisation of Motorola sales, Sharma yet again asserted "Vibe" range is not going anywhere . Lenovo at the Delhi launch event on Tuesday also showed some statistics to show how popular the Lenovo K3 Note really is in the country. The handset was the third most searched phone in 2015, based on Google's release data for India , and the company had sold around 1.2 million units. W...
Post a Comment
Read more