Theobromine poisoning, also informally called chocolate poisoning or cocoa poisoning, is an overdosage reaction to the xanthine alkaloid theobromine, found in chocolate, tea, cola beverages, and some other foods. Sources Cocoa powder contains about theobromine by weight, so of raw cocoa contains approximately theobromine. Processed chocolate, in general, has smaller amounts. The amount found in highly refined chocolate candies or sweets (typically ) is much lower than that of dark chocolate or unsweetened baker's chocolate ( or ). In species Humans Pharmacology Theobromine has a half-life of , but over may be unmodified after a single dose of In general, the amount of theobromine found in chocolate is small enough that chocolate can be safely consumed by humans with a negligible risk of poisoning. Toxicity Theobromine doses at per day, such as may be found in of cocoa powder may be accompanied by sweating, trembling and severe headaches. These are the mild-to-moderate symptoms. The severe symptoms are cardiac arrhythmias, epileptic seizures, internal bleeding, heart attacks, and eventually death. Limited mood effects were shown at per day. In other species Toxicity Median lethal () doses of theobromine have only been published for cats, dogs, rats, and mice; these differ by a factor of 6 across species. Serious poisoning happens more frequently in domestic animals, which metabolize theobromine much more slowly than humans, and can easily consume enough chocolate to cause poisoning. The most common victims of theobromine poisoning are dogs, for whom it can be fatal. The toxic dose for cats is even lower than for dogs. However, cats are less prone to eating chocolate since they are unable to taste sweetness. Theobromine is less toxic to rats and mice, who all have an of about . In dogs, the biological half-life of theobromine is 17.5 hours; in severe cases, clinical symptoms of theobromine poisoning can persist for 72 hours. Medical treatment performed by a veterinarian involves inducing vomiting within two hours of ingestion and administration of benzodiazepines or barbiturates for seizures, antiarrhythmics for heart arrhythmias, and fluid diuresis. Theobromine is also suspected to induce right atrial cardiomyopathy after long term exposure at levels equivalent to approximately of dark chocolate per day. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual, baker's chocolate of approximately of a dog's body weight is sufficient to cause symptoms of toxicity. For example, of baker's chocolate would be enough to produce mild symptoms in a dog, while a