The ability of a cocoa-derived product, used in some European countries as a dietary supplement added to milk, to prevent chronic Mg deficiency was investigated. Wistar rats were fed an Mgdeficient diet supplemented with 3% (w:w) cocoa product (271 mg of Mg2+/kg of food). The concentration of Mg2+, Ca2+, and PO4 in plasma, whole blood, skeletal muscle, heart, kidney, and femur was measured afte...

BACKGROUND Dark chocolate and flavanol-rich cocoa products have attracted interest as an alternative treatment option for hypertension, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Previous meta-analyses concluded that cocoa-rich foods may reduce blood pressure. Recently, several additional trials have been conducted with conflicting results. Our study summarises current evidence on the effe...

Several studies have been reported on the potential health benefits of cocoa polyphenols. However, heat treatment on cocoa beans during drying has an inhibitory effect on the retention of its polyphenols. The polyphenol degradation mechanism due to heating is scarcely reported in literatures for cocoa beans. This paper aims to provide substantial evidence to prove that temperature and heating t...

Acetic acid bacteria (AAB) play an important role during cocoa fermentation, as their main product, acetate, is a major driver for the development of the desired cocoa flavors. Here, we investigated the specialized metabolism of these bacteria under cocoa pulp fermentation-simulating conditions. A carefully designed combination of parallel 13C isotope labeling experiments allowed the elucidatio...

The present study investigates the detection of lard in cocoa butter through changes in fatty acids composition, triacylglycerols profile, and thermal characteristics. Cocoa butter was mixed with 1% to 30% (v/v) of lard and analyzed using a gas chromatography flame ionization detector, high performance liquid chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry. The results revealed that the m...

Air pollution exposures are linked to systemic inflammation, cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality, neuroinflammation and neuropathology in young urbanites. In particular, most Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) children exhibit subtle cognitive deficits, and neuropathology studies show 40% of them exhibiting frontal tau hyperphosphorylation and 51% amyloid-β diffuse plaques ...

Background: Comedogenicity is an important consideration in development of topical products, such as cosmetics. An animal test using rabbit ear has long been served as a model for prediction of comedogenicity of topical products, but correlation to the human skin remained controversial. Isopropyl myristate and cocoa butter which are used as positive controls in animal test, also used in human c...

BACKGROUND Numerous popular media sources have developed lists of "Super Foods" and, more recently, "Super Fruits". Such distinctions often are based on the antioxidant capacity and content of naturally occurring compounds such as polyphenols within those whole fruits or juices of the fruit which may be linked to potential health benefits. Cocoa powder and chocolate are made from an extract of ...

BACKGROUND Dietary fibre is both preventive and therapeutic for bowel functional diseases. Soluble cocoa products are good sources of dietary fibre that may be supplemented with this dietary component. This study assessed the effects of regularly consuming two soluble cocoa products (A and B) with different non-starch polysaccharides levels (NSP, 15.1 and 22.0% w/w, respectively) on bowel habit...

Recent studies suggested that green tea has the potential to protect against diet-induced obesity. The presence of caffeine within green tea has caused limitations. Cocoa tea (Camellia ptilophylla) is a naturally decaffeinated tea plant. To determine whether cocoa tea supplementation results in an improvement in high-fat diet-induced obesity, hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis, and whether su...