Cocoa’s health benefits are far-reaching, as are its delicious uses in everyday cuisine.
Science is finding more reasons to love curling up with a hot cup of cocoa or indulging in a bar of dark chocolate. Cocoa’s benefits go far beyond delighting our taste buds.
A recent study found that unprocessed cocoa protected the vascular system against stress—even after eating fatty foods.
Cocoa for Heart Health
Cocoa has been shown to improve cardiovascular health. Cocoa’s flavonoid content helps lower blood pressure, increase blood flow, and enhance the function of blood vessels, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease.
Researchers found that cocoa high in flavanols helped reduce vessel damage during mental stress compared to cocoa with low flavanol content. Specifically, cocoa rich in flavanols improved vessel function 90 minutes after a stressful event and reduced stress-induced decline of endothelial function, which controls blood flow, at 30 minutes compared to its low-flavanol counterpart.
“Flavanols take up to 1 h [hour] to reach circulation and reach their maximum benefits at 2 h post-intake, so having a food/drink rich in flavanols at least 1 hour prior to the stress event, would be ideal,” Catarina Rendeiro, assistant professor in nutritional sciences at the University of Birmingham and leading author of the paper, told The Epoch Times in an email. “However, if a person regularly consumes foods rich in flavanols (e.g. every 3 to 4 hours), they would be experiencing the benefit of these compounds most of the time, meaning that they could be protected whenever mental stress happens to hit,” she added.
Fighting Disease From the Inside Out
Cocoa is rich in polyphenols—compounds found in plants that help protect them from diseases. Those protective characteristics are passed on to us when we eat foods high in polyphenols. Polyphenols give plants and foods like fruit and vegetables their color. The deeper and brighter the colors, the higher the polyphenol content, which is why we are often told to “eat the rainbow.”
Polyphenols have antioxidant properties, fight inflammation, and protect against free radical cell damage leading to oxidative stress, which is considered the root of many of the most destructive chronic illnesses like heart disease and cancer.
Polyphenols in cocoa contain flavonoids, which have numerous health benefits, Courtney Pelitera, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching, told The Epoch Times. These include improved blood circulation, enhanced blood pressure regulation, reduced cardiovascular disease risk, and improved insulin sensitivity, which is advantageous for individuals with diabetes.
“Additionally, cocoa also contains magnesium, potassium, copper, and calcium,” she noted. “All important minerals for healthy blood flow.”
However, not all cocoa-containing products contain the same amount of polyphenols. Processing cocoa can significantly decrease its polyphenol content, so try to find products that are as minimally processed or as close to the raw bean as possible.
Cognitive Benefits
The flavanols in cocoa are known to have many beneficial effects on the brain. Multiple studies have shown that flavanols positively affect several processes related to cognition, such as processing speed, attention, working memory, and executive function. Research has also found that cocoa improves memory and protects against neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s by improving blood flow to the brain and increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein that protects against neurodegeneration.
Specifically, the researchers found that short-term cocoa consumption increased blood flow and oxygen levels in the brain, and consuming cocoa’s beneficial flavanols over the long term led to better cognitive performance and increased levels of neurotrophins, proteins that support the brain’s ability to make new connections.
Improvements in Mood
Cocoa, in the form of dark chocolate, is known to improve our mood when we’re feeling down.
Results showed that eating 85 percent cocoa dark chocolate significantly reduced negative emotions compared to the control group. However, the group eating 70 percent cocoa did not experience the same mood improvements, suggesting that higher cocoa content may be more effective for enhancing mood.
Additionally, gut microbiota analysis showed increased diversity in the group eating 85 percent cocoa dark chocolate, particularly an increase in Blautia obeum, a bacterium linked to mood modulation through the production of butyrate, which prevents leaky gut and has been shown to exert antidepressant-like effects and “reverse depressive behaviors” in rats.
In simpler terms, eating 85 percent cocoa dark chocolate may help elevate our mood by improving the diversity of beneficial bacteria in our gut.
Insulin Sensitivity
Cocoa may also improve insulin sensitivity and contribute to better blood sugar management.
The findings suggest cacao polyphenol-rich chocolate could help people with diabetes maintain lower and more stable blood sugar levels post-meal by increasing insulin and GLP-1.
Things to Consider
When introducing cocoa into your diet, several factors are important to consider.
The first is that processing affects cocoa’s nutritional content.
“Processing cocoa, such as in a chocolate bar, essentially can dilute the polyphenol content in the chocolate by up to 90 percent,” Pelitera said. “This is going to vary greatly depending on the quality of the chocolate, the percentage of cocoa, and the manufacturing process,” she noted. Dark chocolate with a higher cocoa percentage offers more antioxidants and polyphenols, but it tends to taste more bitter than milk chocolate, she added.
For optimal health benefits, Pelitera suggests treating cocoa as a supplement. Adding cocoa powder to yogurt, oatmeal, smoothies, and baked goods provides the benefits and flavor without undesirable fillers. “Use this in a vanilla yogurt or something that already has a little bit of sweetness to help with the bitter taste,” she said. When selecting chocolate bars, she recommends dark chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa.
Potential Drawbacks
Despite its benefits, there are potential downsides to increasing cocoa consumption. Many chocolate bars in the grocery store don’t contain enough cocoa to have health benefits and are often high in added sugars, fats, and other unwanted ingredients. “It is recommended to limit added sugar intake to 50 grams per day for the average adult,” Pelitera said. Fifty grams of sugar is about 4 tablespoons and is equivalent to eating approximately two pieces of a commercially prepared chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.
Cocoa contains caffeine and theobromine, both of which are stimulants. Although cocoa has lower caffeine levels compared to tea or coffee, people sensitive to caffeine should monitor their cocoa intake, particularly before bedtime.
Final Thoughts
Most of us already have plenty of reasons to enjoy cocoa, especially since it’s the key ingredient in chocolate—a food many love. However, moderation is essential to maximize its health benefits and minimize associated risks.
While the research isn’t definitive on how much cocoa we need to eat to reap its benefits, it suggests 40–50 grams daily of cocoa powder or dark chocolate is a good place to start, Pelitera said.
Cocoa is also incredibly versatile. It makes a healthy (and yummy) addition to almost anything—from sprinkling a bit in your coffee to a nearly endless list of scrumptious desserts. Historical and scientific evidence supports cocoa’s role in improving our health while making life a little more delicious.