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Jesus Alberto Pineda Barrientos

Kathleen Newell
ENGL 123

M&Ms are extremely well known around the world. Perhaps these candy coated little
buttons of chocolate are the most famous bite size snacks in the market. Since 1941, they have
shown everyone that theyre out of this world. Indeed, they come from Mars. Mars, Incorporated is
the company in charge of the production of M&Ms, as well as the owner of 29 brands and four
other billion dollar chocolate such as Twix, Milky Way, Dove and 3 Musketeers. Either
for snack during your break from work or for the simple fact of eating them for pleasure, they
might be a good thing for you to eat for your health. Milk Chocolate M&Ms, if moderately
consumed, can have beneficial virtues to your well-being due to the amount of antioxidants and
minerals encountered in a single pack.
The New York Times' Jon Gertner "What we call chocolate is, essentially, the highly
processed combination of the cocoa butter, chocolate liquor and sometimes powdered cocoa that
are derived from the beans, and which is then combined with sugar, emulsifiers and (often)
milk". And basically, he is correct. However, there is an excessive number of sources from
scientists and professors that stress out the health benefits Cocoa bean. This fruit from the Tree
of Knowledge as Howard-Yana Shapiro, Chief of the Agricultural office in Mars, Inc. says, is
very significant to us and maybe it can even be significant in a positive way to our body.
Perhaps if we understand the benefits of chocolate as a whole we will have a better
understanding of the risky and beneficial effects of M&M's. According to Chris Rosenbloom,
PhD, nutritionist from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there are Five Reasons to enjoy and

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eat chocolate and have a "guilt pleasure turn into a health food". First reason is that there is no
risk of raising your blood cholesterol level. The reason why before it was advised by nutritionists
not to consume chocolate was because of the presence of staeric acid, which is classified as a
saturated fat. However, research has determined that it is more of a neutral fat, that rather it won't
raise your cholesterol, it won't lower it. Rosenbloom later mentions how it can even be
antioxidant which helps to reduce heart disease and slows down the aging process. Later she
adds that it could also be anti-inflammatory which reduces swelling. Another reason she
mentions is chocolate is not high in caffeine. Chocolate does contain some caffeine-type
stimulants, but you would have to eat four king-size candy bars to get the same amount of
caffeine that's found in a 12-ounce cup of coffee (Rosenbloom). Finally her most important
reason is that a 1 1/2-ounce piece of dark chocolate contains as many of the healthy flavonoids as
a glass of red wine. Rosenbloom explains that flavonoids are a type of polyphenolic plant
nutrient ("phytonutrient") that appear to protect against heart disease. The primary flavonoid in
chocolate is epicatechin (pronounced epi-cat-a-kin), which affects blood clotting, as mentioned
before, reduces heart disease risk reacts as an anti-inflammatory. Dark chocolate contains more
flavonoids than milk chocolate, and how the cocoa bean is processed can affect the flavonoid
content. Mars, Inc. has found a way to retain flavonoids in processing chocolate, so when you
see the "Cocopro" symbol on packages of its products, you know that the flavonoid content has
been preserved (Rosenbloom). Of course, this doesn't mean that chocolate is 100% healthy,
needless to say it is still a high-calorie food. Nevertheless, the more you moderately eat
chocolate the better it will be for you, especially if it has more of the actual cocoa bean.
Branching off from general chocolate, Mars Inc. is really trying hard to squeeze the
benefits of chocolate and it is very distinct in their production. As Jon Gertner from The New

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York Times reported, Mars Inc. Has been involved investigating for over a decade into the
molecular composition and nutritional effects of cocoa. Dozens of patents have been pursued
into the manufacture process of chocolate in Mars. In his interview with Harold Schmitz, Gertner
reports about the claims, submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office, he mentions how
cocoa can be used in the maintenance of vascular health or as an anti-platelet therapy among
other beneficial uses. It opens up your mind into the amount of research put by scientists at Mars.
And it had been also thanks to Chief of Agricultural and Global Director of Plant Science and
External Research, Howard Yana Shapiro. His endeavors have been really persistent in order to
make their chocolate healthier and sustainable. Thats right, According to Juliette Jowit from
The Guardian, worlds biggest chocolate corporation is committing to sustainable sourcing of
its annual cocoa bean supply. Shapiro is very passionate into finding a way of getting real cocoa
and benefit from the nutrients it carries.
As mentioned before by nutritionist Rosenbloom, the flavonoids encountered in the
chocolate is what is beneficial. However, there has been actual research from Mars, Inc. by
comparing the flavanol compounds of chocolate with the health benefits of antioxidants in green
tea and red wine. Mars did several test-tube experiments at the Hackettstown labs where Harold
Schmitz works. As he told Gertner, the cocoa flavanols could stimulate the production of nitric
oxide and relax the endothelial cell lining inside blood vessels which results in a better blood
flow. The challenge Mars had was keeping the sweet taste of chocolate in flavanol-rich cocoa.
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology reinstates that cocoa flavanol produces
angiogenic cells which besides creating a better blood flow environment, they respond and have
repair and maintenance functions. In addition Carl Keen, PhD and Professor of Internal Medicine
affirms it relaxes the blood vessel and perhaps most importantly, for the first time, we found

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that cocoa flavanols might even directly mobilize important cells that could repair damaged
blood vessels. The benefits are substantial, without any observed adverse effects. And still,
throughout their constant research they try to look for the correct type of cocoa bean that has
been tested in various territories in Africa and Latin America, specifically Brazil. Shapiro has
many times mentioned that it was important to maintain these sources for a good sustainable
chocolate.
Even though exhaustive research, and the amount of comparison and experimentation has
been made about Mars chocolate by scientists Schmitz, Hammerstone and even Shapiro to
mention a few, Mars finds itself in a position in which they cant portray themselves as a
Healthy Candy provider, as if it was a healthier version of Willy Wonka. Even my expectation
for this research was to find that the amount of chocolate in M&Ms was minimum. How can it
be that something that has 240 Calories and 30g of sugar can be healthy in any way? And I was
constantly being refuted by articles and claims by scientists that have done research. But one
point made by Carl Keen of U.C. Davis is that: ''If Mars were some sort of juice company, they
would find this far easier to market, but they're in a difficult position because they're a
confectionary company. The marketing here is much, much more difficult than if they were
selling a fruit or a vegetable.'' Portraying your usual M&Ms as Mellow & Miraculous for your
health might be a little too much, but the fact that it carries all of the intentions from Mars, to be
a sustainable and flavanol-rich company by squeezing cocoas benefits might be something you
might want to consider the next time you doubt having that pack of M&Ms while on the line of
the supermarket.

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Works Cited

Pollack, Andrew. "Rival Candy Projects Both Parse Cocoa's DNA." The New York Times
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Sept. 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Alter, Bonnie. "The Man Behind Mars Bars Going Sustainable." Tree Hugger.
MNN HOLDING

COMPANY, 27 May 2009. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Jowit, Juliette. "Howard-Yana Shapiro: Man from Mars Trying to save the Planet."
The Guardian 7 May 2009. Web. 25 Apr. 2015.
Spilker, Bert. "The Benefits And Risks Of A Pack Of M&Ms." Health Affairs. Project HOPE:
The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Gertner, Jon. "Eat Chocolate, Live Longer?" The New York Times
10 Oct. 2004, Section 6 sec.: 33. Print.
Rosenbloom, Chris. "Chocolate in Moderation Has Virtues, Contrary to Popular Belief." The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution 3
Feb. 2005, Food & Drink sec.: 5K. Print.