The Good News

The Olmecs, Mayans, Toltecs, and Aztecs were keen to keep their gods supplied with chocolate, in the form of cocoa beans, to keep them happy and healthy. They also used cacao to treat fatigue, alleviate breathlessness and fever, to treat a faint heart, help an ailing liver or spleen, and to alleviate headaches and depression. We have also seen that Montezuma relied on his 50 cups of foaming xoco atl a day to keep up his stamina before visiting his harem. These much proclaimed medicinal uses of cacao, both as a principal remedy or as a way of conveying other medications, were part of the ancient customs of the Mesoamerican people going back thousands of years.