Why Dark Chocolate May Be Good for You

[FunnyJohn]

Short answer: Microbes in your gut

"Dark chocolate might pack a double positive punch for our health"”thanks to the microbes that live in our gut. New research suggests that beneficial bacteria that reside toward the end of our digestive tract ferment both the antioxidants and the fiber in cocoa."

[The Hersch]

But why is it lethal to dogs? (A rather small amount of dark chocolate will kill a dog stone dead.)

[zoramargolis]

But why is it lethal to dogs? (A rather small amount of dark chocolate will kill a dog stone dead.)

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[The Hersch]

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Interesting, but that's more an answer to "how" than to "why". If we metabolized theobromine more slowly, chocolate would be toxic to us too? Why, given the rather small genetic difference between humans and dogs, do they metabolize that particular compound so slowly that it can kill them, and we metabolize it quickly enough that it just gives us a little kick? (I seem to recall reading somewhere that humans are genetically a 97-percent approximation of mice, and I imagine we're considerably closer to dogs.)