Cocoa 'Vitamin' Health Benefits Co...
s123 13 Apr 2007
I add some turmeric to my cocoa as a chelator for the lead.
That's an interesting idea. Do you have a reference to support the strategy?
Thanks!
I don't have a reference. [sad]
It's one of my own ideas.
I add some turmeric to my cocoa as a chelator for the lead.
yuck.
It’s not that bad.
lucid 13 Apr 2007
They are the peeled variety. Here is a link to the product.Lucid, are the beans peeled or unpeeled?
ETA: Sunfood sells both types. Looks like the unpeeled version is the whole bean.
http://www.sunfood.c..._id=0878&m=home
OutOfThyme 13 Apr 2007
Thanks for the link.They are the peeled variety. Here is a link to the product.Lucid, are the beans peeled or unpeeled?
ETA: Sunfood sells both types. Looks like the unpeeled version is the whole bean.
http://www.sunfood.c..._id=0878&m=home
I didn't think cacao could be such an effective iron supplement. My nibs from Navitas do mention iron on the product description, but nothing in regard to quantity, whatsoever.
As a bonus, the label boasts 40mg of vitamin C. ... [huh]
doug123 14 Apr 2007
LA times: News Source
Cocoa's sweet reward
Chocoholics rejoice: Foods rich in cocoa appear to reduce blood pressure, a study finds
By Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
April 16, 2007
CHOCOLATE — that traditional antidote for broken hearts — now has another use. Foods rich in cocoa appear to reduce blood pressure, according to researchers at the University Hospital of Cologne in Germany.
Testing the hypothesis that plant compounds known as polyphenols found in cocoa and tea have a beneficial effect on blood pressure, researchers analyzed five studies on cocoa and five studies on tea published between 1966 and 2006.
The report, which appears in the April issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that chocolate lowered systolic blood pressure by about 4.7 points on average and diastolic pressure by about 2.8 points. In short, a healthful daily dose of chocolate could reduce blood pressure of 140/80 to about 135/77.
Curiously, tea did not have a similar effect, possibly because the composition of the polyphenols in tea is slightly different. "It's likely that the phenols specific to cocoa represent the active ingredients," lead author and pharmacologist Dr. Dirk Taubert said in an e-mail. "A possible candidate are the so-called procyanidins, which are a group of complex phenols."
So a little chocolate a day may keep the doctor away? "Regular consumption of polyphenol-rich cocoa products like dark chocolate may be considered part of a blood pressure lowering diet, provided" — here it comes — "that there is no gain in total calorie intake," he says. Natch. There's always a catch.
*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
janet.cromley@latimes.com
Take care.
lucid 14 Apr 2007
At any rate, here is a link to a site:
http://optimalhealth.../OracLevels.htm
This site has old data though from '04. The highest values are from spice oils which are toxic when consumed in moderate quantities. Cocoa is really high up there on the list.
From the back of my cocoa powder I read that the cold pressed powder is much more bio-available and has a much higher anti-oxidant content than the nibs. It has about 20% more anti-oxidant content than the nibs. Based on this combined with the high iron content... I am now dead set on getting the powder in the future compared to the nibs.
stephen_b 14 Apr 2007
Stephen
Athanasios 14 Apr 2007
stephen_b 15 Apr 2007
Stephen
Athanasios 15 Apr 2007
OutOfThyme 16 Apr 2007
Its worth checking out a few more places to determine whether or not the high iron content in Sun Food nibs is an anomaly. Lucid, I confirmed your label with a sales rep. The label is accurate, so it seems. I still don't understand why it's so high in comparison with my nibs.
Some additional info: Beans are certified organic by Skal International. Imported from Peru. Packed in the USA. As a bonus, they're the Criollo variety.
Navitas is reluctant to provide consumers with a C.O.A. so I plan on getting one through my health food store. The guy went on about how much of a hassle it would be to provide them to just anyone... to which my response was, "put it on your website and automate the updates". I'm sure the words of one consumer will fall on deaf ears. Considering the problems with cacao in the past, I don't feel my request was out of line.
lucid 16 Apr 2007
I will also point out that 2 Tablespoons of powder have 11g of fiber, so cocoa powder makes a nice fiber supplement. It also has 7 g of protien. Cocoa powder is too cool. I'm not sure if it was mentioned already, but cocoa is also an appetite suppressant. The list goes on.
OutOfThyme 16 Apr 2007
Thanks.Great work! I can't imagine how nibs can differ by 50x in their iron content, go get em. I'm still sold on the powder since there is more anti-oxidants in it than in the nibs. The nibs are fun to munch on though.
I keep some powder around too, for the occasional use, but consume nibs daily. I love the texture--cold & crunchy--keep'em in the fridge. I'll post any new info I get.
ETA: Del emoticon
Edited by thymeless, 01 May 2007 - 09:37 PM.
OutOfThyme 16 Apr 2007
Mercola sells Way Healthier nibs on his website.
http://www.mercola.c..._nibs.htm#order
Scroll down some to the product label and you'll find the iron content listed as 0% Daily Value for a 5 gram serving. Up that to say...28 grams (1oz) and we're likely in the same range as the Navita nibs--1-2%.
doug123 29 Apr 2007
Earthtimes.org: News Source
WASHINGTON, April 27 Chocolate lovers are fighting a proposed change to U.S. chocolate standards that would allow other fats to replace cocoa butter.
The current Food and Drug Administration standard says chocolate must contain cocoa butter. The proposed change -- listed in a petition supported by the chocolate lobby -- would make it possible to call something chocolate even if it had vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, The Washington Post said Friday.
The newspaper said the products would still need to contain chocolate liquor.
Critics of the proposed change have started a grassroots letter-writing campaign to the FDA. They say some big chocolate manufacturers support the proposed change because vegetable fat, which contains trans fats, is less expensive than cocoa butter, which does not.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
s123 29 Apr 2007
Hmmm...
Earthtimes.org: News Source
WASHINGTON, April 27 Chocolate lovers are fighting a proposed change to U.S. chocolate standards that would allow other fats to replace cocoa butter.
The current Food and Drug Administration standard says chocolate must contain cocoa butter. The proposed change -- listed in a petition supported by the chocolate lobby -- would make it possible to call something chocolate even if it had vegetable fat instead of cocoa butter, The Washington Post said Friday.
The newspaper said the products would still need to contain chocolate liquor.
Critics of the proposed change have started a grassroots letter-writing campaign to the FDA. They say some big chocolate manufacturers support the proposed change because vegetable fat, which contains trans fats, is less expensive than cocoa butter, which does not.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
Here in Belgium it’s forbidden to use other fat than cocoa butter.
stephen_b 29 Apr 2007
Stephen
malbecman 07 May 2007
J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Apr 18; [Epub ahead of print]Click here to read Links
A New Process To Develop a Cocoa Powder with Higher Flavonoid Monomer Content and Enhanced Bioavailability in Healthy Humans.
* Tomas-Barberan FA,
* Cienfuegos-Jovellanos E,
* Marin A,
* Muguerza B,
* Gil-Izquierdo A,
* Cerda B,
* Zafrilla P,
* Morillas J,
* Mulero J,
* Ibarra A,
* Pasamar MA,
* Ramon D,
* Espin JC.
Research Group on Quality, Safety and Bioactivity of Plant Food, Department of Food Science & Technology, CEBAS-CSIC, 30100 Campus de Espinardo, Murcia, Research & Development Department, Natraceutical Group, 46930-Valencia, Department of Clinic Nutrition, UCAM, 30107-Murcia, and Department of Biotechnology, IATA-CSIC, 46100-Burjassot, Valencia, Spain.
Cocoa is a food rich in polyphenols, mainly the flavonoid procyanidins and flavan-3-ols. The improvement of the cardiovascular function in humans upon cocoa consumption has been specifically linked to the presence of flavan-3-ol derived metabolites in plasma, especially epicatechin glucuronide. In this context, a flavonoid-enriched cocoa-derived product could potentially exert stronger health benefits. The aim of the present study was to obtain a cocoa powder with a higher flavonoid content (mainly enriched in monomer compounds) and assess its flavonoid bioavailability in humans. For this purpose, an unfermented, nonroasted, and blanch-treated cocoa powder (A) was obtained. The powder contained four times more procyanidins than a conventional (B) cocoa powder. Powder A contained eight times more epicatechin and procyanidin B2 than powder B. Cocoa milk drinks were prepared with powder A (MDA) and B (MDB). The bioavailability of flavonoids in both drinks was assessed in a crossover intervention with healthy volunteers. The content of epicatechin glucuronide, the main metabolite detected in plasma, was five-fold higher upon consumption of MDA as compared with MDB. The urinary excretion of metabolites, mainly methyl epicatechin sulfate, was higher upon MDA consumption as compared with MDB, ranging from two- to 12-fold higher depending on the metabolite. These results, together with previous reports regarding the cardiovascular benefits linked to the presence of procyanidin metabolites in plasma, suggest that further clinical trials to validate the health benefits of a flavonoid-enriched cocoa powder are warranted. Keywords: Theobroma cacao; processing; cocoa; procyanidins; metabolism; bioavailability; cross over; plasma; urine; human.
PMID: 17439235 [tung]
Brainbox 11 May 2007
I revived an old coffee grinder, works perfectly although the powder does not solve in water.
chris_h 11 May 2007
lucid 12 May 2007
trance 14 May 2007
http://jarrow.com/pr....php?prodid=453
health_nutty 15 May 2007
Jarrow just came out with a new chocolate (cocoa extract) supplement called ChocoMind:
http://jarrow.com/pr....php?prodid=453
This product is standardized for the stimulant theobrine in chocolate, not the flavanoids. It is the flavanoids which produce the benefits
in the original article.
malbecman 15 May 2007
Jarrow just came out with a new chocolate (cocoa extract) supplement called ChocoMind:
http://jarrow.com/pr....php?prodid=453
This product is standardized for the stimulant theobrine in chocolate, not the flavanoids. It is the flavanoids which produce the benefits
in the original article.
Right, the last thing I need is more stimulants/theobromine. [lol]
I'm holding out for the new, improved cocoa powders with increased flavanoids that should be coming soon (besides CocoVia from Mars, Inc.).....
edward 15 May 2007
paragon 15 May 2007
The caffeine from cocoa resides only in the skins of the beans, and if cocoa is processed correctly, there should be virtually no caffeine at all in the finished product. Therefore, in my opinion, caffeine content in ChocoMind is an indication of inferior processing methods.
Jarrow just came out with a new chocolate (cocoa extract) supplement called ChocoMind:
http://jarrow.com/pr....php?prodid=453
This product is standardized for the stimulant theobrine in chocolate, not the flavanoids. It is the flavanoids which produce the benefits
in the original article.
Right, the last thing I need is more stimulants/theobromine. [lol]
I'm holding out for the new, improved cocoa powders with increased flavanoids that should be coming soon (besides CocoVia from Mars, Inc.).....
shifter 16 May 2007
I'll see if I can get my nibs tested.
edward 16 May 2007
tintinet 16 May 2007
I queried NOW Foods and Navitas regarding lead. NOW responded immediately, assuring me they continuously did assays for all types of contaminants in their products, including cocoa, as part of their rigorous QA program (see their website).
Navitas ignored my email, thus far.....