Hot chocolate (also known as hot cocoa, drinking chocolate, or just cocoa) is a heated beverage that typically consists of shaved chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar. While hot chocolate is generally thought of as a drink consumed for pleasure, recent studies have suggested that hot chocolate possesses health benefits due to antioxidants that can be found in cocoa. Until the 19th century, hot chocolate was even used medicinally to treat ailments such as stomach

diseases.

The first chocolate beverage is believed to have been created by the Mayan peoples around 2000 years ago, and a cocoa beverage was an essential part of Aztec culture by 1400 A.D. The beverage became popular in Europe after being introduced from Mexico in the New World, and has undergone multiple changes since then. Today, hot chocolate is consumed throughout the world and comes in multiple variations including the very thick cioccolata densa served in Italy, and the thinner hot cocoa that is typically consumed in the United States.

Chocolate is made from cocoa, the dried and partially fermented seeds of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a small (4-8 m (or 15-26 ft) tall) evergreen tree native to the deep tropical region of the Americas. Recent genetic studies suggest that the most common genotype of the plant originated in the Amazon basin and was gradually transported by humans throughout South and Central America. Early forms of another genotype have also been found in what is now Venezuela. The scientific name, Theobroma, means "food of the gods". The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15-30 cm (or 6-12 in) long and 8-10 cm (3-4 in) wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g (1 lb) when ripe.

Research has shown that the consumption of hot chocolate can be positive to one's health. A study conducted by Cornell University has shown that hot chocolate contains more antioxidants than wine and tea, therefore reducing the risk of heart disease. In a single serving of cocoa, the researchers found 611 milligrams of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) and 564 milligrams of epicatechin equivalents (ECE), compared with 340 milligrams of GAE and 163 milligrams of ECE in red wine, and 165 milligrams of GAE and 47 milligrams of ECE in green tea. Chang Yong Lee, the professor and researcher at Cornell who conducted the study, revealed that a larger amount of antioxidants are released when the beverage is heated.

The flavonoids found in the cocoa that makes up hot chocolate also have a positive effect on arterial health. A particular study performed by the National Institutes of Health grants and Mars showed high amounts of improvement in blood flow after drinking a flavanol-rich cocoa beverage. In the study, the subjects (27 people ages 18 to 72) drank a cocoa drink containing 900 milligrams of flavonols every day, which resulted in an improvement in blood flow and the function of endothelial cells that line blood vessels. In further studies conducted by Dr. Norman K. Hollenberg, professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School found that flavonols may also help vessels dilate and help keep platelets from clustering on the blood vessel walls.[27] Flavonoids found in hot chocolate are beneficial to the health mainly because they shield the walls of blood vessels from free radical damage. Flavanols are also thought to help reduce blood platelet buildup and can balance levels of compounds called eicosanoids, which may be beneficial to cardiovascular health.