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...Worry no more - Mars, Inc. is going taking that decision out of your hands. The company that produces M&Ms, 3 Musketeers, Snickers and Twix bars has vowed to stop shipping any Mars chocolate products that exceed 250 calories per portion by the end of 2013. Right now a regular Snickers bar has 280 calories and each Twix cookie bar has 130 calories. Mars will most likely stop producing its king-sized candy bars all together since the large Snickers bar weighs in at 510 calories."We have a responsibility to help our consumers and the pets they love lead healthy lives,"...

Ready to say goodbye to a sliver of your Snickers? And how about a slightly slimmer Mars bar? By the end of 2013, chocolate-maker Mars says all of its chocolate bars will be under — or right at — the 250-calorie mark. With all the fixation on our civilization's expanding waistlines, it's not that there are bad foods, just big foods. That means you won't be seeing lower-calorie chocolate or caramel — just less of it. And the company says it wants to be an industry leader, helping its customers enjoy "responsible snacking." It sort of reminds me of beer...

A reading teacher at Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach has been accused of screaming at a Haitian student in her class last year, telling him to shut up and calling him a "little chocolate boy" and a "chocolate that nobody wanted." According to the district, Leslie Rainer, 46, of Deerfield Beach, has been spoken to twice before about her remarks to minority students, including an incident in which she allegedly told a student, "I wish they would put you in a boat and send you back where you came from."

MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. -- A local school district has removed chocolate milk from its menus, but students aren't giving up their sugary drink without a fight. The Tahoma School District has spent the past three years reworking its lunch menu to offer students healthier foods. It already did away with canned fruit, and now officials are taking chocolate milk off the menu.

The trust company, under investigation by the Pennsylvania state attorney general's office, manages a $7.5 billion charity. The trust also holds 77 percent of the voting stock in the Hershey Company, including the Hershey Foods Corporation....The precise nature of the investigation has not been disclosed, but local news media have previously questioned the trust's purchase of a financially troubled golf course—for $12 million—that was partially owned by a then-trustee; the building of a $5 million bar and restaurant on the course; and the sale of the chocolate factory in downtown Hershey, PA, to private investors.

Scientists say climate change will eventually claim many victims -– including, according to a new report, chocolate. As temperatures increase and weather trends change, the main growing regions for cocoa could shrink drastically, according to new research from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. Ghana and the Ivory Coast –- which produce more than half of the global cocoa supply –- could take a major hit by 2050. Currently, the optimal locations to grow the crop are about 330 feet to 820 feet above sea level, with temperatures of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit to 77 degrees. That range will soar...

Chocolate Fondue - 1 and 1/4 cups whole milk - 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract - 2 tablespoons unsalted butter - 4 ounces Ghiradelli 70% Cacao Extra Bittersweet Chocolate baking bar (broken up into pieces) - 4 ounces Ghiradelli Milk Chocolate Baking Bar (also broken up into pieces) Pour the milk, vanilla extract and butter into a saucepan. Heat the saucepan on medium and mix well. When it has begun to slightly boil from the heat, remove from the burner and pour in the bittersweet and milk chocolate bar pieces. Keep stirring until the bars are completely melted and the...

Scientists found that small amounts of dark chocolate may improve health in a similar way to exercise. The researchers focused on the mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses in cells that generate energy, and discovered that a plant compound found in chocolate, called epicatechin, appeared to stimulate the same muscle response as vigorous activity. ''Aerobic exercise, such as running or cycling, is known to increase the number of mitochondria in muscle cells. Our study has found that epicatechin seems to bring about the same response - particularly in the heart and skeletal muscles.''

Chocolate Good for the Heart and Brain Michael O'Riordan   August 29, 2011 (Paris, France) — In a city renowned for its love of food, it is only fitting that researchers presented the results of a new study in Paris, France, showing that chocolate is good for the heart and brain. In a presentation at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2011 Congress, British investigators are reporting that individuals who ate the most chocolate had a 37% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 29% lower risk of stroke compared with individuals who ate the least amount of chocolate. In the study, published online...

PARIS -- Willy Wonka may have been on to something with that chocolate factory, according to a meta-analysis that suggests chocolate can provide a heart benefit. In six studies, people who ate the most chocolate -- about two pieces of chocolate per week -- had a 37% lower risk of any cardiovascular disease compared with those who ate less (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.90), according to Oscar Franco, MD, PhD, of the University of Cambridge in England. And in three studies, those who consumed the most had a 29% lower risk of stroke (RR 0.71, 95% CI 0.52...

MONTREAL -- Scientists in Canada said Monday that they plan to study whether eating dark chocolate not only satisfies sweet tooth cravings, but protects against sunburn as well. The study by researchers at Laval University in Quebec will monitor the effects of chocolate consumption on fair-skinned volunteers between the ages of 25 and 65, each of whom will be prevailed upon to eat three squares of chocolate per day for 12 weeks. Earlier research in Germany and Britain has found that chemicals in chocolate called polyphenals increase blood flow close to the skin, which helps protect against ultraviolet rays, but...

(During a taste test, participants that were told that the chocolate was from Switzerland enjoyed it more. Those told of the chocolate's supposed origin after the taste test enjoyed it less.) Swiss chocolate's reputation influences how people rate it in taste tests, a new study shows. When consumers are told that they're about to eat a chocolate bar from Switzerland, they prefer it to that same bar tagged "made in China." If they are told about the Swiss chocolate bar's origin after they taste the candy, however, they say they prefer the Chinese chocolate. Researchers from Babson Collegein Wellesley, Mass.,...

Vanilla, Chocolate Top List of Favorite Ice Cream Flavors Thursday, July 14, 2011 When it comes to frozen treats, Americans prefer to keep it simple. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adults who eat ice cream at least occasionally finds that 23% say vanilla is best, while the same number (23%) prefers chocolate. Nine percent (9%) like butter pecan the most, while strawberry and cookies and cream each earn eight percent (8%) of the vote. Six percent (6%) prefer mint chocolate chip, and another four percent (4%) choose coffee flavored ice cream. Seventeen percent (17%) prefer some other...

3D Chocolate Printer looks as quite an amusing name at the first glance. It makes you want to know what it really does. The 3D Chocolate printer allows you to create your own designs on a computer and reproduce them physically in three dimensional form in to chocolate. This interesting project is funded as part of the Research Council UK Cross-Research Council Programme – Digital Economy and is managed by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on behalf of ESRC, AHRC and MRC. It is being led by the University of Exeter in collaboration with the University of...

Los Angeles -- The Los Angeles school board on Tuesday voted to eliminate chocolate and strawberry milk from schools as of July 1. LAUSD joins a growing number of school districts nationwide, including in the District of Columbia, Boulder Valley, Colo., and Berkeley, Calif., that serve only plain milk because of the added sugar contained in flavored versions. The proposal by Superintendent John Deasy came after popular British TV chef Jamie Oliver criticized the district in recent months for serving flavored milks, saying they contain the sugar equivalent of a candy bar.

Players: Naomi Campbell; Cadbury Chocolate. Opening Serve: Model Naomi Campbell was not flattered by the use of her name in Cadbury's recent ad for a new chocolate bar reading, "Move over Naomi, there's a new diva in town." An offended Campbell said she was "shocked. It's upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me, but for all black women and black people. I do not find any humor in this. It is insulting and hurtful," according to The Daily Mail. After the Kraft-owned British confectioner refused to remove the ad from papers, The Independent reported that Campbell was...

A new ad for Cadbury chocolate is leaving a bitter taste with Naomi Campbell. The supermodel is looking at "every option available," including legal action, in response to a promotion that compares the celebrity to a Dairy Milk Bliss bar. The ad reads, "Move over Naomi, there's a new diva in town," and shows the candy bar nestled in diamonds. The campaign ran in supermarkets and newspapers in the U.K. Campbell told the U.K. newspaper the Independent, "I am shocked. It's upsetting to be described as chocolate, not just for me, but for all black women and black people. I...

This was one of the two cakes commissioned by William and Kate for their wedding. The chocolate cake was William’s boyhood foody fetish.

Los Angeles schools will remove high-sugar chocolate- and strawberry-flavored milk from their lunch and breakfast menus after food activists campaigned for the change, L.A. schools Supt. John Deasy announced this week. Deasy revealed his intent, which will require approval by the Los Angeles Unified Board of Education, during an appearance with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" Tuesday night. The policy change is part of a carefully negotiated happy ending between the Los Angeles Unified School District and Oliver. The chef's confrontations with the school system became a main theme in the current season of the TV reality...

Italian chocolate tycoon Pietro Ferrero, the joint chief executive of the group that owns Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, has died in a cycling accident in South Africa, a company spokesman said.Mr Ferrero, who was 47, fell from his bicycle during a regular riding session, probably because he was taken ill, while on a business trip in South Africa, the spokesman said, voicing the group's "deep dismay". Ferrero had co-run the sweets company with his younger brother Giovanni since 1997. Their 85-year-old father Michele, who turned the firm into a global leader of the confectionery industry after taking over in 1957,...

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin came under fire for publicly saying he wanted to rebuild his city as a "Chocolate New Orleans." Now, a report by National Public Radio is using similar terminology, calling the nation's capital "chocolate," but noting a change in its flavor. The article, titled, "D.C., Long 'Chocolate City,' Becoming More Vanilla," by Alex Kellogg, opens by stating: "For decades Washington, D.C., was known affectionately as 'Chocolate City' to many black Americans, because it was predominantly African-American. "Most big U.S. cities are getting browner as more blacks, Hispanics and Asians move...

In the not-too-distant future, chocolate will become a rarefied luxury, as expensive as caviar. John Mason, a Canadian expert on cocoa, first made this prophesy six years ago from his base in West Africa, the epicenter of production. He was confident enough to repeat it, over and over, to the directors of the biggest chocolate companies in the world. “Sometimes they were rude. Sometimes they were polite,” he said. “Behind me, they were sort of snickering.” Today they treat him like a guru. An influential set of senior industry heavyweights flew to Ghana last week to hear him speak; the...

I hate to sound like the cover of some woman’s magazine, but today we’re going to talk about “The Sweet Science Behind Dark Chocolate” and “What Eating Dark Chocolate Can Do For You.” Scientists are my new best friends. At first, I thought those headlines were just stuck at the top to make me want to read the e-mail that followed. Maybe whoever was contacting the media was just trying to lure in candy-loving journalists with a chocolate-coated bait-and-switch press release that eventually got around to talking about health insurance reform. But, no, chocolate apparently is a “super food.”“Studies show...

Chocolate strawberries among extravagant demands by Nancy Pelosi as she spent $101,000 in two years on services while travelling with US AirforceBy Matt Blake Last updated at 2:02 PM on 27th January 2011 If the US Airforce did all airline food, it would be strawberries dipped in dark chocolate and grilled chicken salads all round. Unfortunately this luxury is reserved for top US politicians alone, as new documents detailing Nancy Pelosi's travel expenses reveal. The former House Speaker was showered with a cornucopia of gourmet food and alcohol as she travelled over 90,000 miles around the world in just nine...

Pelosi’s chocolate-covered strawberries: where’s the rest of the documents?Jonathan Strong - The Daily Caller Thu Jan 27, 3:44 pm ET **SNIP** But the documents provided by the Air Force have Judicial Watch scratching their heads over a key issue: where’s the rest of the expense reports they asked for? The documents provided by the Air Force show Pelosi took a total of 43 fights on military aircraft, but only 11 expense reports were provided to Judicial Watch. “I am not sure how to account for this,” said Judicial Watch spokeswoman Jill Farrell. Air Force officials did not return a call...

If you've ever found yourself asking "How can I get more bacon into my life?", this recipe is perfect for you. I first got this idea when I saw the cookies on an episode of Ace of Cakes. I found a few other recipes online, but I decided to use my favorite chocolate chip recipe, and add bacon. This recipe yields about 24 cookies.

Which songs epitomize the stupidity and ignorance of Obama supporters? If you have any examples, either in video links, posted lyrics, or just recollections, please tell us. I respectfully submit the following fantastic example from the God of Rock/Jazz/Xenocronicity, etc. The most prescient musical philosopher of all time, Frank Zappa, doing Flakes, from Shiek Yerbouti, in a pink jump suit, in 1981. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFvtoJrK1Zg

Lindt Lindor Chocolate commercial

Health recommendations from experts often include exercising more and eating more whole grains, but perhaps one of the more welcome advances in medical research has been the declaration that chocolate is good for us. Now, new research may help explain why indulging in the sweet treat helps our heart health. Researchers from Linkoping University in Sweden have found that eating dark chocolate inhibits the action of an enzyme nicknamed ACE (formally known as the angiotensin-converting enzyme), which is involved the body's fluid balance and helps regulate blood pressure. The results are based on a study of 16 brave volunteers, ages...

The Independent in Britain has a startling report for chocolate lovers: John Mason, executive director and founder of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, has forecast that shortages in bulk production (of cocoa) in Africa will have a devastating effect: "In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it." The report explains that African farmers are abandoning their cocoa farms for other products that are easier to grow and easier to monetize. Palm oil, for example, is in greater demand because it's...

Experts say the world could be running out of chocolate. The economics of cocoa cultivation make chocolate production a labor and time-intensive process. Much of the world's cocoa comes from West Africa, but farmers there say they just don't have the incentives to keep growing the crop. The process takes up to five years per plant and many farmers can say they can earn more with other crops. The price of chocolate rose to a three-decade high in August. "In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar," John Mason, executive director of the Ghana-based Nature Conservation Research Council, told Britain's...

Actress Nubia Esteban wears a chocolate outfit inside a chocolate cage at the 16th Salon du Chocolat in Paris. She was dressed by Bailey's and Carole Dichampt

You may never know which meal will be your last. It could be one chosen by a caretaker or hospital staffer, served to you in your sickbed. Perhaps your last bite will be a deliberate choice, such as the vegetable soup that Adolf Hitler sipped before killing himself. Or, it may be a random meal that you don’t expect to be your culinary goodbye — such as the Dover sole and champagne that Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed were served at the Ritz Hotel in Paris before a car crash took their lives. Final meals hold a special fascination for...

A range of insect-based food products, including worm crisps, chocolate covered scorpions, and toasted ants, has been launched in Harvey Nichols' Edinburgh store. The unusual range, priced from 2.95 pounds for a packet of worm crisps to 15.95 pounds for a tin of toasted ants. The line also includes Thai green curry flavoured crickets, toffee scorpion candy, Tequila lollipops with real worms inside and civet coffee, which is made from coffee beans that are prepared for roasting by being passed through a civet cat. There is also a type of tea, which claims to have been picked by trained monkeys....

YEREVAN, Armenia -- Anyone looking for huge amounts of free chocolate should book a flight to Armenia's capital next month. That's when the world's largest chocolate bar will be up for grabs in Yerevan's main square. The Guinness Book of World Records certified the 9,702-pound chocolate bar at a ceremony Saturday. It was made by Grand Candy factory and contains all natural ingredients, including 70 percent cocoa mass. The chocolate bar is 224 inches long, 110 inches wide and 10 inches thick. The factory owner, Karen Vardanyan, said that the chocolate bar was produced to mark the 10th anniversary of...

On Monday, July 12th Michelle Obama addressed the NAACP and she spoke at length about her "Let's Move" program, which targets childhood obesity. "To address this challenge, we need to be honest about how we got here. The way we live today is very different from the way we grew up. Fewer children are walking or biking to school, more families are eating on the run, and children are watching more TV than playing outside." Here's my answer to Michelle:

Even Willy Wonka might struggle to use this much chocolate. Yesterday, somebody bought 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans. The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City. It is unclear which person, or group of traders, was behind the deal, but it was the largest single cocoa trade for 14 years. The cocoa beans, which are sitting in warehouses either in The Netherlands, Hamburg, or closer to home in London, Liverpool or Humberside is equivalent to the entire supply of the...

WASHINGTON –Six officers with the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) were charged today in connection with the federal investigation of a police-involved shooting on the Danziger Bridge in the days after Hurricane Katrina, the Justice Department announced today. The incident resulted in the death of two civilians and the wounding of four others. The indictment charges four officers – Kenneth Bowen, Robert Gisevius, Robert Faulcon and Anthony Villavaso – in connection with the shootings, and charges those four officers and two supervisors – Arthur “Archie” Kaufman and Gerard Dugue – with helping to obstruct justice during the subsequent investigations. The...

A Portland massage therapist gave local police a detailed statement last year alleging that former Vice President Al Gore groped her, kissed her and made unwanted sexual advances during a late-night massage session in October 2006 in a suite at the upscale Hotel Lucia. The woman told investigators that she informed two friends and kept the clothes she wore that night, including her black pants with stains on them. But Portland police didn't contact any of the woman's friends, obtain the potential evidence or interview anyone at the hotel, records show. "The case was not investigated any further because detectives...

Drink 'like eating 68 bits of bacon' A 2,000-CALORIE milkshake that is the equivalent of 68 rashers of bacon and 30 chocolate-chip cookies has been dubbed the worst drink in the US. Made with chocolate ice cream, milk and peanut butter, the drink - called the Cold Stone PB&C - packs a whopping 2,010 calories, 131 grams of fat - 68 grams of which is saturated - and a massive 153 grams of sugar. It topped the Men's Health 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010 list, beating a McDonald's Triple Thick Chocolate Milkshake to the post. Delicious The magazine said...

Ingredients: 1 box butter cake mix 1 large box instant chocolate pudding mix 4 eggs 8 oz. sour cream 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup water 8 oz. chocolate chips (or more if you prefer...)

Johns Hopkins researchers discover pathway in mice for epicatechin's apparent protective effectResearchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage. Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke by essentially cutting off blood supply to the animals' brains. They found that the animals that had preventively ingested the epicatechin suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given...

Mississippi congressman says Gulf oil spill is like 'chocolate milk'By The Times-Picayune May 03, 2010, 3:20PM The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico closes in on the Gulf Coast. NASA / The Associated Press A Mississippi congressman has compared the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to "chocolate milk" according to a story Monday on The Huffington Post. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., flew over the spill in the Gulf this past weekend and said it's not as bad as he expected.

People who regularly eat chocolate are more depressive, experts have found. Research in Archives of Internal Medicine shows those who eat at least a bar every week are more glum than those who only eat chocolate now and again. Many believe chocolate has the power to lift mood, and the US team say this may be true, although scientific proof for this is lacking. But they say they cannot rule out that chocolate may be a cause rather than the cure for being depressed. In the study, which included nearly 1,000 adults, the more chocolate the men and women consumed...

WASHINGTON (AP) — First Lady Michelle Obama is taking her campaign against childhood obesity to the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. Besides rolling eggs with spoons, children will get a dose of activities to promote healthy living and exercise, including sports, dancing — and even yoga. White House chefs will be on hand to talk about eating right.

Easter turducken Most traditional holidays are syncretised perversions of even older traditions, which then get secularized into excuses to eat a whole bunch. Christmas falls, not coincidentally, close to the winter solstice, and borrows heavily from earlier winter festivals, featuring lots of gingerbread, candy canes, traditional hams and large family feasts. Thanksgiving, being largely a continuation of post-harvest feasts in Europe, has always been about eating. We have, of course, taken this to ridiculous extremes with turducken, a Thanksgiving dish prepared by… …cramming a boneless chicken into a boneless duck, which is stuffed into a boneless turkey. Three kinds of...

Eating as little as a quarter of an ounce of chocolate each day -- an amount equal to about one small Easter egg -- may lower your risk of experiencing a heart attack or stroke, a new study has found. For best results, the chocolate should be dark, experts say. "Dark chocolate exhibits the greatest effects, milk chocolate fewer, and white chocolate no effects," says the lead author of the study, Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist at the German Institute of Human Nutrition, in Nuthetal, Germany. In the study, Buijsse and his colleagues followed nearly 20,000 people for an average...

Yet another health benefit has been linked to eating chocolate: It may decrease your risk of stroke, a new study suggests. The analysis, which will be presented in April at the American Academy of Neurology's 62nd Annual Meeting, reviewed the results of three previous studies. One study with more than 44,000 participants found that those who ate a weekly serving of chocolate were 22 percent less likely to suffer a stroke than those who ate no chocolate.

Chocolate. Just the mere sound of the word makes your tastes buds start salivating for the rich, creamy texture of this often misunderstood, sometimes decadent, but always tasty treat. This food has been used for centuries by lovers to woo the opposite sex, to promote all types of sensual delights, and to boost the energy of anyone who wants to indulge.

NEW YORK, USA -- The American Dairy Association & Dairy Council unveiled a giant cup of hot chocolate in Bryant Park; it weighs more than 4,180 pounds before the addition of marshmallows-setting the world record for the Largest Cup of Hot Chocolate. The seven-foot wide mug held 487 gallons -- that's almost eight thousand cups of of piping hot cocoa -- not to mention tons of marshmallows. Officials said they expected to distribute 6,000 to 10,000 free cups of cocoa. The World's Largest Cup of Hot Chocolate, unveiled in Bryant Park, weighs more than 4,180 pounds before the addition of...