The New York Times reports on promising new research that indicates that unprocessed cocoa significantly improves readings on several tests of blood flow that
often deteriorate with age. Wait, there’s more: the effect was much more prominent in
the over-50 group than in the younger subjects.
According to the Times, the researchers studied 34 healthy subjects, 19 of them over 50.
None were taking any medications, and all were free of cardiovascular,
endocrine and kidney disease. Each consumed a quart of flavanol-rich
sweetened cocoa every day for four to six days. The study, published in the Journal of Hypertension, found that all of the
subjects had significantly improved readings on several tests of blood
flow, but the effect was much greater in the over-50 group than in the younger subjects. The scientists found that the cocoa flavanols work to widen arteries by the same mechanism as the heart drug nitroglycerin.
The bad news: you can’t buy the kind of unprocessed cocoa used in the study. Yet.
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You can get Hershey’s pure cocoa, the baking kind, in the supermarket. The bitterness are the flavinols. If you want even better you can get the unprocessed cacao at a health food store, but it is expensive. The Hershey’s isn’t as good, but it still contains at least half the antioxidants as the cacao, and at least one study used the Hershey’s and got similar results.
If you look at the ingredients in the HErsey’s baking cocoa, it’s just “cocoa”. To make hot cocoa with it you mix it with hot water, a sweetener, and maybe add some milk or something. It’s a little more bitter than the kind eveyone knows but that is good. The reason the commercial hot cocoas are not bitter is they remove the bitter agents but those are the beneficial antioxidants.
the type of unprocessed cocoa that gives these health benefits is actually available now through a company that produces Healthy Delicious Dark Belgium Chocolate. The powder can be used to make a wonderful drink that Univ of Utah studied on 42 data points, including cardiovascular benefits, blood pressure, etc., and the results were impressive. For more info go to our website, http://www.wesandsusan.com
The good news, is you can now buy unprocessed cocoa from a company called MXI. http://www.chocolatewellth.com for more info.