Cocoa can outshine Penicillin

Wow, I was completely surprised when I came across an article in Science Daily (March 12, 2007), that claimed cocoa was a vitamin with health benefits that can outshine penicillin.

There are tremendous health benefits related to epicatechins, compounds found in cocoa. Epicatechins may rival penicillin and anaesthesia in terms of importance to public health. Epicatechins are so important that some believe that they should be considered a vitamin.

Many studies have shown that cocoa have reduced the risks of stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes. A study was done with the Kuna people in Panama regarding the benefits of drinking cocoa. They can drink up to 40 cups of cocoa a week. Natural cocoa has high levels of epicatechin. The studies showed the risk of the most common killer diseases were reduced by 10 percent.

Norman Hollenberg, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, stated that although we know that penicillin and anaesthesia are enormously important. But epicatechin could potentially get rid of 4 of the 5 most common diseases in the western world…so how important does that make epicatechin? I think very important!

Currently, there are only 13 essential vitamins. An increase in the number of vitamins would provide significant opportunity for nutritional companies to expand their range of products. Commercial cocoas remove flavanols and epicatechin because they tend to have a bitter taste. So there is a huge scope for nutritional companies to develop epicatechin supplements or capsules.

Epicatechins are also found in teas, wine, fruits and vegetables and dark chocolate.

Xocai, makes 6 different products that contain high levels of epicatechins. These products are made with a cold press process therefore keeping all the vitamins and nutrients within the cocoa. These products known as Healthy Chocolate, also add the acai berry and blueberries to remove the bitterness of the cocoa.

So, how’s that for some food for thought?

Until next time,

Dr. Mommy