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Ive gotten interested in cocoa (powder) since reading a couple of recent studies published on its mutliple benefits.
found this site that had good info on Cocoa and citations and links to studies:
http://www.health-herbal.com/html/cocoa.html
found this site that had good info on Cocoa and citations and links to studies:
http://www.health-herbal.com/html/cocoa.html
Cocoa as an antioxidant
Everybody should drink a cup of cocoa daily. Good quality cocoa requires only 20 grams to deliver your 5000 ORAC units, so a kilogram should last 50 days. However, as you will also eat other healthy foods, do not plan to get all your ORAC’s from cocoa. Chocolate products have a higher total flavanol content on a per weight basis than many other plant-based foods and beverages, such as apples and red wine. Studies show that flavanols and other flavonoid components in chocolate are rapidly absorbed in humans in a dose-dependent manner. The potential health effects of flavanols in certain chocolates are seen in a variety of functions, including antioxidant properties, reductions in platelet activity (Rein et al, 2000), modulation of eicosanoid (hormone-like substances that play a role in inflammation processes and platelet activity) synthesis, and regulation of immune response.
The chemical structure of flavonoids reveals their antioxidant capacity (Steinberg et al, 2003). These flavonoids can scavenge free radicals, and chelate (combine with) redox active metal ions. Such bioactive compounds could contribute to the maintenance of an integrated network of cellular and plasma oxidant defense mechanisms, to vascular wall tone, and to a reduction in platelet reactivity with a subsequent reduction in the risk for clot formation.
The flavan-3-ols are the major antioxidant components of different cocoa ingredients and chocolate preparations. Oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) data show that chocolate, as a whole food, has a potent antioxidant capacity when compared with other phytochemical-rich foods such as garlic, blueberries, and strawberries. Chocolate products have higher ORAC values than most other flavanol-containing foods.
Cocoa is a potentially rich dietary source of flavonoids. High concentrations of flavonoids are present in certain cocoas, predominately as the flavanol monomers (±)-epicatechin (epicatechin) and (+)-catechin (catechin), and as oligomers of these monomeric base units, which are known as the procyanidins (Kris-Ethertona, and Keenb, 2002)
Antioxidant Power http://www.immunesupport.com/library/print.cfm?ID=3464
Cocoa contains high concentrations of polyphenols — about 8 per cent by weight in the raw beans. Cocoa powder provides a higher concentration of polyphenols than milk or dark chocolate (Chocolate Manufacturers Asociation). The absorpion of polyphenols can depend factors such as what else you have been eating at the time. Blood plasma antioxidant capacity (measured by the total antioxidant potential (TRAP) assay) increased more than 2-fold within 3 hr and remained unchanged for 4 hr after the consumption of cocoa extract (Zhu et al, 2002). Blood levels of the polyphenol epicatechin rise after the consumption of chocolate, reflecting rapid absorption.
Important cocoa flavanols are epicatechin and catechin. Epicatechin and catechin have a relatively high water solubility. Dietary flavanols, such as those found in cocoa, display variable oral absorption, with reported values varying from less then 1 to greater than 50 percent of the ingested dose (Baba et al., 2000; Rein et al., 2000; Hollman et al., 2001). Some of this difference is due to investigations that assess absorption based on urinary vs plasma measures (Richelle et al., 1999; Baba et al., 2000). In a study by Schramm (2003) average absorption was around five percent. Other published data showed similar plasma levels (Richelle et al., 1999; Wang et al., 2000). Schramm’s conclusion was that food can have a significant effect on polyphenolic absorption. The consumption of bread and sugar significantly increased flavanol absorption compared to when they consumed cocoa alone.
Cocoa flavonoids
Flavonoids are found in a variety of foods and beverages, including cranberries, peanuts, apples, chocolate, tea and red wine. Flavonoids are a sub-group of the broader class of polyphenols; there are more than 4,000 flavonoid compounds. Flavanols are a more specific sub-class of flavonoids.
Although numerous polyphenolic compounds are present in the cocoa bean, cocoa powder is particularly rich in a subclass of polyphenolics known as flavonoids. Cocoa liquor has three time more ORAC generating antioxidants than dark chocolate (Steinberg et al, 2003). The primary flavonoids in cocoa and chocolate are the fiavan-3-ols (monomers) catechin and epicatechin (monomeric units) and proanthocyanidins (also termed procyanidins), which are polymeric compounds comprising catechin and epicatechin subunits (Zhu et al 2002). Procyanidin oligomers make up 12% to 48% of the dry weight of the cocoa bean.
In a study where people consumed chocolate with bread and water on two separate occasions: first consuming 40 g of chocolate, and one week later, consuming 80 g of chocolate. The total polyphenol intake from chocolate was 892mg, and 1783mg respectively. Blood samples were drawn before chocolate consumption and at intervals of one, two, three and four hours after consumption. Blood analysis found levels of the polyphenol epicatechin rose after consumption of each chocolate sample, reflecting rapid absorption. Another study showed that feeding 35 g of cocoa powder to 12 male subjects demonstrated a significant increase in LDL cholesterol’s resistance to oxidation within two hours of cocoa consumption (CMA, 2003). In another trial, the inhibitory effect of the cocoa extract was stronger than ascorbic acid. Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) has been shown to act as an antioxidant (Zhu et al, 2002).
Studies show that cocoa powder, dark chocolate and milk chocolate have higher Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity (ORAC) values than many common foods, such as prunes and blueberries. (ORAC values measure how powerful an antioxidant a substance is.) An antioxidant is a substance that inhibits oxidation or reactions promoted by oxygen and peroxides, and that include many held to protect the living body from the deleterious effects of free radicals. Examples include beta-carotene, vitamin C, and alpha-tocopherol.
Dark chocolate has more than 13,000 ORAC units and milk chocolate has about 6,700, according to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association. Unsweetened powdered cocoa starts out with almost twice as much antioxidants as dark chocolate, but when it's diluted with water or milk and sugar to make hot chocolate, the flavonoid total per serving plummets to about half that in milk chocolate.
In different terms, a 40-gram serving of milk chocolate contains about 400 milligrams of antioxidants.
A study of a tribe of indians (Kuna Indians living on islands off Panama, Central America ) who consume an average of five cups of cocoa a day has shown that chocolate may prevent high blood pressure. Researchers are investigating a link between consumption of flavanol-rich cocoa and nitric oxide synthesis. There is also a link between antioxidants in chocolate and a reduction in platelet aggregation in blood, and an increase in "good cholesterol" levels. Nitric oxide plays such an important role in the maintenance of healthy blood pressure and, in turn, cardiovascular health (Prof Norman Hollenberg of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 2002).
