No, I didn’t misspell it! Cacao is the name of the bean cocoa (chocolate) is made from. After processing it becomes the cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, and candy we’re all familiar with.
Cacao is jam-packed with incredibly powerful nutrients. Raw cacao powder has over 300 beneficial phytochemicals and almost four times the antioxidant power of dark chocolate.
It also contains protein, calcium, carotene, thiamin, riboflavin, magnesium, and healthy sulfur.
So cacao is chocolate in its most unprocessed state, but what makes raw cacoa so much better than supermarket cocoa powder?
Cocoa powder and chocolate are made by chemically processing and roasting cacao, destroying many of the antioxidants and flavanols that benefit your health.
A recent study finds that between 60 and 90 percent of the antioxidants in cacao are lost through the typical manufacturing process called Dutch processing (1).
Dutch processing was developed in the 1800s to reduce bitterness, mellow the flavor, and darken the color to make attractive and tasty chocolate products. But it also eliminates much of what makes cacao so good for you.
The nutrients in cacao are easily destroyed by the heat and chemicals of processing. So if you want to get the most benefit from this superfood, you need to eat it raw.
Let’s take a closer look at the amazing health benefits raw cacao.
Groundbreaking findings, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2), confirm what many previous studies have shown; chocolate and cocoa affect important risk factors for cardiovascular disease by:
Cacao can provide long-term protective benefits for your brain and memory, as you age.
In a study of 90 seniors with mild cognitive impairment (usually leading to dementia), participants were given cacao for eight weeks and showed measurable improvements in their cognitive function (3).
In an animal study cacao was found to help prevent changes in the brain that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease (4).
Cacao flavanols could also help long-term cognitive function through its anti-inflammatory effect (5).
It’s believed that inflammation plays a big role in cognitive impairment and dementia by damaging blood vessels and reducing blood flow.
So anything that helps control inflammation can help keep the brain healthy and our memory sharp.
Beetroot, Pomegranate and Spinach have all also been shown to improve brain function as well.
The damage free radicals do to healthy cells can eventually cause cancer. With its high level of antioxidant compounds called polyphenols, cacao may protect cells against this damage.
A 2016 study in Pharmacognosy Magazine (6) examined the effects of antioxidant compounds found in cacao, called procyanidins, on ovarian cancer cells. They found that procyanidin selectively killed these cancer cells and interrupted their normal growth cycle.
Eating raw cacao comes with an awesome fringe benefit; it genuinely improves our mood. Cacao does this by stimulating the production of euphoria-inducing chemicals like anandamide, endorphins, methylxanthines, phenylethylamine, and serotonin.
Even processed cocoa (as chocolate) has been shown to relieve depression and anxiety while enhancing calmness. The flavanols and methylxanthines are believed to create these mood-enhancing effects.
Of eight studies reviewed that assessed chocolate’s effects, five showed distinct improvements in mood (7).
In another study, subjects reported feeling more calm after consuming a daily chocolate drink with high polyphenol content. The group that drank a placebo with no polyphenols experienced no improvements in mood (8).
Compared to chocolate without polyphenols, high-polyphenol chocolate also improved depression, anxiety and other symptoms in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (9).
Dark Chocolate clearly has a plethora of great nutrients and 2 of them; zinc and magnesium are crucial for testosterone production.
It’s powerful nutrients can also help lower LDL which is bad cholesterol and decrease stress, both of which can really kill your testosterone production.
Raw dark chocolate is also full of healthy fats which are essential to healthy testosterone levels. (10)
Last of all, studies have shown ingestion of flavanol-rich cocoa lead to an increase in nitric oxide concentration in the blood. In other words, it boosts nitric oxide levels. (11)
Healthy nitric oxide levels are crucial to erection strength and may stimulate gonadotropin secretion as well which is a crucial step in testosterone production. (12)
Raw dark chocolate made my list of best foods to boost testosterone, click the link to see what other foods made it.
Researchers gave a high-dose cocoa flavonol drink (similar to what raw cacao could provide) and a low dose flavonol drink to two groups of women over a three month period (13).
Skin health was measured before and during the study. They checked blood flow to the skin along with skin hydration and density.
The study found much better outcomes in the high-dose flavonol group. Skin roughness and scaling were significantly reduced in the group that consumed the high flavonol drink.
But they didn’t stop there. The participants were exposed to forced ultraviolet light (UV) exposure to test if flavonols had a protective effect.
By the end of the study, the group that consumed the high flavonol drink experienced a 25 percent reduction in skin UV damage compared to the placebo group.
Next Level Superfoods Multivitamin is proud to sport a whopping 500 mg of Raw Organic Cacao in its formulation.
As far as we know our multi is the only one on the market to provide raw cacao and that is due to our lead product developer Robert Clark wanting to truely take our multivitamin to the “next level”.
He has been an avid promoter of the health benefits of raw dark chocolate for over a decade but no matter how he tried to hide it in various other flavors for his wife, so she could get the health benefits too, she just couldn’t stand the taste.
So this one goes out to Becca and to all of us who want a better, healthier lifestyle.
You may also like our article on choosing the right multivitamin for you.
REFERENCES
You may have already read my other article on 7 habits which are killing your testosterone. There was a section in that on Water because
Rhodiola Rosea stands out as a potent adaptogenic herb with a rich history of traditional use and a growing body of scientific research. Revered for
In this comprehensive article, we will explore what L-tyrosine is, its benefits as a pre-workout supplement, the correct dosage, and other potential health benefits it
Betaine anhydrous is becoming an increasingly popular ingredient for pre-workouts. In this article, we will explore the fundamentals of betaine anhydrous, its connection to carnosine,
Beta-alanine is a pre-workout powerhouse. From boosting workout performance to potential anti-aging effects, discover why this amino acid is a favorite among health buffs.
You may have already read my other article on 7 habits which are killing your testosterone. There was a section in that on Water because
Rhodiola Rosea stands out as a potent adaptogenic herb with a rich history of traditional use and a growing body of scientific research. Revered for
In this comprehensive article, we will explore what L-tyrosine is, its benefits as a pre-workout supplement, the correct dosage, and other potential health benefits it
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