Chocolate in history: food, medicine, medi-food.

Throughout history, chocolate has been used to treat a wide variety of ailments, and in recent years, multiple studies have found that chocolate can have positive health effects, providing evidence to a centuries-long established use; this acknowledgement, however, did not have a straight course, having been involved in religious, medical and cultural controversies. Christian Europe, in fact, feared the exhilarating effects of new drinks, such as chocolate, coffee and tea. Therefore, these beverages would have been banished, had not doctors and scientists explained that they were good for the body. The scientific debate, which reached its peak in Florence in the 18th century, regarded the therapeutic effectiveness of the various chocolate components: it was necessary to know their properties first, in order to prepare the best cacao concoction for every patient. When Dietetics separated from Medicine, however, chocolate acquired the role of vehicle for easing the administration of bitter medicines, being associated to different health problems. The recent rediscovery of the beneficial use of cacao and chocolate focuses upon its value as supplemental nutrition. Building a bridge to the past may be helpful to detect the areas where the potential health benefits of chocolate are likely to be further explored.

The strange destiny of Caterina de' Medici and a case of puerperal fever in the sixteenth century.

The aim of this study is the reconstruction of a case of puerperal fever, which affected the mother of Caterina de' Medici, the future Queen of France, in 1519. Only unpublished data found in the Archives were used, to follow the onset and the development of the disease, offering a glimpse into medical perception of the time. The description of the case provides interesting points of contact with modern medicine.

Scenes from the past: the Medici Project: radiographic survey.

The remains of 12 members of the grand ducal (junior) branch of the Florentine Medici family were exhumed in 2003 as part of the Medici Project, a multidisciplinary study whose aim was to investigate the lifestyles, health status, and possible causes of death of members of one of the richest, most powerful families of the Italian Renaissance. Digital radiography and orthopantomography were performed on the skeletal remains of individuals who lived between 1562 and 1666. The observed bone malformations, deformities, and changes (degenerative, metabolic, and dental) challenge traditional views, based on portraits and historical accounts, about the appearance and lifestyle of some family members. Moreover, the occurrence of a constellation of bone changes related to diabetes (osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis, cranial hyperostosis, and crystalline arthropathy) suggests that this metabolic disease was common in the grand ducal branch of the Medici family.

Chocolate and medicine: dangerous liaisons?

According to ancient Mayan texts, cocoa is of divine origin and is considered a gift from the gods. In the Classic period of Mayan civilization (250-900 a.d.), ground cocoa seeds were mixed with seasonings to make a bitter, spicy drink that was believed to be a health-promoting elixir. The Aztecs believed that cocoa pods symbolized life and fertility, and that eating the fruit of the cocoa tree allowed them to acquire wisdom and power. Cocoa was said to have nourishing, fortifying, and aphrodisiac qualities. Pre-Columbian societies were known to use chocolate as medicine, too. The appreciation and popularity of chocolate fluctuated over the centuries since its introduction to Europe from the New World. Now, recent evidence has begun to erase the poor reputation that chocolate had acquired in the past few decades and is restoring its former status. Chocolate is no longer deemed a guilty pleasure, and it may have positive health benefits when eaten in moderation as part of a balanced diet.

Natural compounds for cancer treatment and prevention.

We describe here the main natural compounds used in cancer therapy and prevention, the historical aspects of their application and pharmacognosy. Two major applications of these compounds are described: as cancer therapeutics and as chemopreventive compounds. Both natural compounds, extracted from plants or animals or produced by microbes (antibiotics), and synthetic compounds, derived from natural prototype structures, are being used. We also focus on the molecular aspects of interactions with their recognized cellular targets, from DNA to microtubules. Some critical aspects of current cancer chemotherapy are also discussed, focusing on genetics and genomics, and the recent revolutionary theory of cancer: aneuploidy as the primum movens of cancer.

[Past, present and future of green tea: from pleasant beverage to drug in pills?]. / Storia ed attualità del tè verde: da bevanda voluttuaria a farmaco in compresse?

During the 17th century, new drinks entered the European market: wine and beer, which were largely widespread among the different European countries, were joined by coffee and tea; their consumption at was first limited to the higher classes, but they soon became popular at all levels of society. Even if their therapeutic effects were strongly stressed from different points of view, at first they encountered a certain resistance. Tea, in particular, represented a sort of compromise between a pleasant habit, bound to economic and social reasons, and a therapeutic scope. Green tea is unfermented tea. In Japan the most frequently used method of production is steaming, that deactivates the oxidase in tea leaves, determining the retention of a brilliant green colour. Its use has been proposed in a number of clinical conditions and pathologies, even if its putative therapeutic properties must be further assessed in rigorously designed and conducted clinical trials. Aim of this paper is to call needed attention to the potential role of green tea extracts in prevention and in therapy in relation to the scientific methodology of clinical research.

The diseases of the medici family and the use of phytotherapy.

The Medici Project is a paleopathological and historico-medical research, based on the exhumation of corpses of the Medici Family buried in the Medici Chapels (Florence, San Lorenzo). The scientific research carried out on these remains permits us to reconstruct habits and causes of death of members of this famous family of Italian Renaissance. The comparison between the literary sources and the paleopathological evidence is also important to reconstruct different therapies. Physicians, who assisted the most important persons of the Medici Family, have left a rich literature about their patients: the treatments were based on the use of plants and natural substances. Analyzing these sources is of unique importance and throws light on the therapeutical choices of the time.

[The historical evolution of obstetrician formation]. / Evoluzione storica della formazione dell'ostetrica.

The evaluation of the historical development of obstetrician formation presents features of great modernity. At the end of the XVIII century in Florence the first School of Obstetrics for midwives was established. In the School two relevant complementary formative approaches were privileged: ex cathedra didactics and clinical training. The basic tools for these educational methodologies were constituted by handbook production and by wax anatomical models, the latter a field for the meeting and confrontation of surgeons and craftsmen. The historical-social scenario in which this original evolution took place was Tuscany society in the period of Enlightenment, that promoted the formation of professional figures capable of managing natural childbirth in an autonomous way, while nevertheless placing them under a previously lacking health policy control. In this cultural environment particularly impressive was the influence of J.P. Frank (Austria and Lombardy), but also present were other forces, deriving from other European countries, that aimed at including the formation of obstetricians in a scientific programme, thus excluding an unguarded non-structured training.

Plague, policy, saints and terrorists: a historical survey.

Plague is an infectious disease of humans and animals caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. During the Middle Ages millions of people in Europe died from plague, whose current mortality-if untreated-ranges from 50% to 90%. The plague has been a great protagonist in history because it has often been grimly present in the collective events of humans. Its plurisecular history, tied to the whole chain of ecological balance, has had a strong influence on the collective imagination on account of its sudden occurrence and unavoidable mortality. In the past, the passage from contagion to illness ended in death, as human remedies had no effect. The only way to conquer it was invoke the incorruptible spirit of a saint. Therefore, in the past, the major plague icons were saints to whom ordinary people attributed a fame for healing. More recently, many epidemic diseases have ceded place to biological weapons, and terrorists have become the modern icons of such a threatening reality. As a matter of fact, bioterrorism has become a great public health and infection control threat, and, among the number of potential biological agents, plague has assumed a key role.