Food Science Department to Host Chocolate Expert

The food science department in Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences is hosting Jeffrey Hurst, Ph.D., principal scientist with the Hershey Company, who will speak on “Cacao: From Ethnobotany to Translational Medicine” at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Room D-2 of the Food Science Building at the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center on North Garland.

Chocolate will be served.

Ethnobotany is the study of the how people of a particular culture and region use indigenous plants. Translational medicine is a health care approach that integrates research from the basic, social and political sciences.

Hurst’s work at Hershey includes the development and evaluation of new analytical technologies and methods, allergy research, spectroscopy and spectrometry, support for plant troubleshooting, and support for the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition. He also is an adjunct professor of comparative medicine at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Penn.

Hurst says cacao consists of over 500 discrete chemical compounds. In recent years, there have been substantial scientific reports about positive health effects from selected compounds in cacao and chocolate products, with many concentrating on the improvement of cardiovascular markers such as blood pressure.