Daily Sweets Linked to Violence

City officials trying new programs, but will they work?

(NEWSER) - Choose nearly any line from a New York Times article on murders in New Orleans, and it will depress you: By late last month, the city had seen 175 homicides in 2011—the same as the total number for all of the previous year—and there have been eight more since then. The homicide rate was 10 times the national average in 2010, when there were 51 murders per 100,000 residents. (Compare that to seven per 100,000 in New York and 23 in Oakland.) "From September of last year to February of this year, a student attending John McDonogh [high school] was more likely to be killed than a soldier in Afghanistan," said the mayor recently. Though New Orleans has long been known for its violence, the homicide rate has been rising since 2000 and city officials are struggling to stem it. Making things particularly difficult is the corruption in the police department. Residents "do not trust the police," says one activist. More»

Scientists say, "sort of"

(NEWSER) - Can you finally replace your energy bar with a candy bar? Scientists have discovered a connection between chocolate and building muscle, reports the New York Times . Researchers at the University of California in San Diego have found that giving mice a purified form of epicatechin—the main nutritional ingredient of cacao—increased mitochondria in leg muscles. More»

Shortage predicted as cocoa farmers switch to biofuel crops

(NEWSER) - Enjoy that Halloween candy while it lasts, kids, because in the not-so-distant future, no one’s going to be giving away chocolate. With a growing number of farmers abandoning their cocoa crops in West Africa, the world may just plain run out of affordable chocolate within 20 years, industry experts tell the Independent . “Galaxy, Creme Eggs, every kind of £1 chocolate bar will be a thing of the past,” says one London chocolatier, predicting the average bar will sell for £7 ($11.25). More»

That's not an excuse to start gobbling candy, docs warn

(NEWSER) - Eating one serving of chocolate per week may help save you from a stroke, researchers say. Chocolate eaters are 22% less likely to suffer a stroke than abstainers, an analysis of three studies with a total of 44,489 subjects reveals. But even the study author cautions that the conclusion "is something that requires further investigation," reports USA Today . And another doc cautions that association isn't the same as causation. More»

(NEWSER) - A mistake in the labs of the world's largest chocolate producer inadvertently led researchers to the ultimate in confectionery: a recipe that's not only heat-resistant, but that contains 90% fewer calories than normal chocolate. Food engineers fooling around at Barry Callebaut, which makes products for Nestlé and Cadbury, ended up creating a crispy bar with a light consistency that doesn't melt below 131°F. More»