Epidemiological studies have demonstrated the beneficial effect of plant-derived food intake in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The potential bioactivity of cocoa and its polyphenolic components in modulating cardiovascular health is now being studied worldwide and continues to grow at a rapid pace. In fact, the high polyphenol content of cocoa is of particular interest from ...

BACKGROUND Natural cocoa and cocoa products are increasingly attracting the attention of many investigators and the general public because of their potential nutritional and medicinal properties and other claims. OBJECTIVE This study sought to evaluate the effect the consumption of natural cocoa powder has on some biochemical and hematological indices in the rat, as a way of establishing the ...

Chocolate is often labeled with percent cocoa solids content. It is assumed that higher cocoa solids contents are indicative of higher polyphenol concentrations, which have potential health benefits. However, cocoa solids include polyphenol-free cocoa butter and polyphenol-rich nonfat cocoa solids (NFCS). In this study the strength of the relationship between NFCS content (estimated by theobrom...

Good quality cocoa beans are well studied and known as rich source of natural polyphenols. On the contrary, little research has been done regarding polyphenol extracts (PE) from low quality cocoa beans i.e. partially fermented dry cocoa beans (PFDCB) and unfermented dry cocoa beans (UFDCB). The following research was carried out to study the antioxidant, antibacterial, and food colouring proper...

The continuous use of copper-based fungicide over the years in the control of black pod disease has led to heavy-metal accumulation in cocoa soils due to its non biodegradable nature. Considering the limited, available forest, it is therefore, necessary for the existing heavy-metal contaminated cocoa soils to undergo soil remediation in order to reduce the bioavailability of metals for plant up...

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin mainly produced by mould species of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium, which grow on a variety of agricultural products. OTA-contaminated foodstuffs pose a major health hazard to consumers, including human and animal. In Cote d'Ivoire, numerous studies are being carried out to find the best way of preventing OTA contamination of cocoa raw material. The obj...

Cocoa consumption began in America and in the mid sixteenth Century it quickly spread to Europe. Beyond being considered a pleasant habit due to its rich sweet lingering taste, chocolate was considered a good nutrient and even a medicine. Traditionally, health benefits of cocoa have been related with the high content of antioxidants of Theobroma cocoa beans. However, the direct psychoactive eff...

The articles in the issue provide important evidence for the acute effects of cocoa flavanols on the peripheral vascular response in humans. As Hollenberg and Luscher point out, ‘‘not only does flavanol-rich cocoa-induced nitric oxide production show a dramatic influence on blood vessels in healthy individuals, preliminary information available indicates that the influence on nitric oxide synth...

The aim of this study was to evaluate several cocoa sources to obtain a rich phenol extract for use as an ingredient in the food industry. Two types of phenolic extracts, complete and purified, from different cocoa sources (beans, nibs, liquor, and cocoa powder) were investigated. UPLC-MS/MS was used to identify and quantify the phenolic composition of the extracts, and the Folin-Ciocalteu and ...

BACKGROUND Cocoa, mixed with other food ingredients, intake can have beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) biomarkers. We compared the effects of 4 cocoa cream products on some of these biomarkers. METHODS AND FINDINGS In this multi-centered, randomized, controlled, double-blind, parallel trial, volunteers (n = 113; age range: 43-65 years) who were pre-hypertensive, stage-1 hyper...