RAW CACAO

Georgina Roberts Updated by Georgina Roberts

Raw cacao is chocolate in its purest, natural form. The cacao beans grow in a large pod, usually in Central/South America and Africa, and provide an abundance of nutritional benefits and has many applications to health and wellbeing. Raw cacao is rich in magnesium, copper, potassium, iron, zinc, and brain supporting flavanols. It is considered sacred medicine by some Indigenous cultures and has long been revered for its healing properties.

You will find Raw Cacao in our MAGIC hot chocolate and PERFORM Raw Cacao flavor. We source our Organic Raw Cacao powder from Ghana, Ivory Coast and our Organic Cocoa powder from Sierra Leone.

Cocoa powder is cacao however slightly more refined, and more similar to the chocolate powder you would find in a hot chocolate.

Cacao is a stimulant, and whilst it only contains low levels of caffeine you should still be mindful of this if you are caffeine sensitive.

Sacred Cacao “Food of the Gods”

Cacao “Theobroma Cacao” has been used and celebrated for millennia by Indigenous cultures, it is considered sacred and often described as “Food of the Gods” (Ancient Greek translation). The Indigenous peoples treated Cacao with such reverence due to its vast healthful benefits, which they were innately aware of even before modern science confirmed such benefits. Cacao is also sometimes known as “heart medicine” and is often used ceremoniously now, even in the western world. Those that celebrate cacao for its spiritual connotations describe it as having a “Yin” or “feminine” energy and that consuming Cacao in a ceremonious context connects us to Mother Earths energy and our own human heart space.

These esoteric associations are not entirely unfounded scientifically, as modern-day research has confirmed various healthful benefits of consuming Cacao, which could connect the dots between these experienced ceremonious benefits and actual observed physical implications of consuming Cacao.

Bio active compounds and their effects.

One of the wonderful benefits of Cacao is that it contains many anti-oxidant bio-active compounds including flavanols, procyanidins and epicatechins at the following quantities (values will vary slightly dependent on growing and processing conditions:

Procyanidins

Epicatechins

22-24mg/g

158.30mg/100g

 

The antioxidant levels of Cacao even exceed superfoods like goji berries and acai, having far reaching health benefits for our skin, brain, and heart health to name a few.

Procyanidins have been measured to support cardiovascular health and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, attributed to flavonoids antioxidative capacity. Cacao consumption helps to maintain optimal Nitric Oxide in the body, which is a vasodilator and can help support healthy blood pressure and in turn cardiovascular health. Procyanidins are also considered potent inhibitors of acute inflammation, which has far-reaching whole-body wellness benefits.

Epicatechins are beneficial as they encourage increased blood flow and oxygenation of the brain, this is useful for performance and overall longevity. When the body absorbs epicatechin it can uptake more glucose into the blood by activating an insulin pathway. Increased blood glucose uptake means the body is able to metabolize sugar from the blood more efficiently. Epicatechins also increase production of nitric oxide, which help to promote vasodilation (widening of blood vessels) which improves blood flow and oxygen uptake of working muscles during exercise and at rest, this may have performance enhancing affects.

Magnesium, Anti-oxidants and Brain function!

More celebrated benefits of Raw Cacao include its high levels of magnesium which all well known to optimize central nervous system (CNS) function, in fact it is essential to normal neurological and muscular function. Magnesium also supports brain health alongside many other bodily systems. Consuming Raw Cacao is a tasty way to contribute towards your magnesium RDA (recommended daily amount).

Cacao is considered an anti-inflammatory food due to its high concentrations of antioxidants, these help to fight free radicals, protect against environmental toxins which both help to manage inflammation in the body, encouraging overall wellness and longevity.

The flavanols found in Cacao have been explored for their potential to impact brain health and cognitive function. It is believed that the neurobiological effects of the flavonoids present in Cacao are due to a range of actions involving the ability to protect vulnerable neurons, stimulate neurological regeneration and enhance neuronal function. These all have wide reaching benefits for cognitive ability, memory and protective against neurological decline.

Cacao is wonderful ingredient with far reaching health benefits. Click here to try our Magic Hot Chocolate or our PERFORM Raw Cacao Protein Powder.

 References

Adel Ismail. (2016). Magnesium: A Mineral Essential for Health Yet Generally Underestimated or Even Ignored. Journal of nutrition and food sciences. 6 (4), 1000-23.

Monica M. BeardenMonica M. Bearden Mars, Incorporated, Research and Development, 800 High Street, Hackettstown, NJ 07840 More by Monica M. Bearden , Debra A. Pearson, Dietrich Rein, Kati A. Chevaux, D. (2000). Potential Cardiovascular Health Benefits of Procyanidins Present in Chocolate and Cocoa. In: Thomas H. Parliment, Chi-Tang Ho, Peter Schieberle Caffeinated Beverages. Online: ACS Publications. 177-186.

Robert Vink and Mihai Nechifor. (2011). Magnesium in the Central Nervous System. Adelaide: NCBI. 38-45.

S T Francis, K Head, P G Morris, I A Macdonald. (2006). The effect of flavanol-rich cocoa on the fMRI response to a cognitive task in healthy young people. Journal of cardiovascular pharmacology. 47 (1), 215-20.

Tin K.Mao, JonathanPowell, Judy Vande Water, Carl L.Keen, Harold H.Schmitz, John F. Hammerstone, M.EricGershwin. (2000). The effect of cocoa procyanidins on the transcription and secretion of interleukin 1β in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Life Sciences. 66 (15), 1377-1386.

Valentina Socci, Daniela Tempesta, Giovambattista Desideri, Luigi De Gennaro and Michele Ferrara.. (2017). Enhancing Human Cognition with Cocoa Flavonoids. Frontiers in Nutrition . 4 (19), 3389-95.

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