BACKGROUND Cocoa powder is rich in polyphenols such as catechins and procyanidins and has been shown in various models to inhibit LDL oxidation and atherogenesis. OBJECTIVE We examined whether long-term intake of cocoa powder alters plasma lipid profiles in normocholesterolemic and mildly hypercholesterolemic human subjects. DESIGN Twenty-five subjects were randomly assigned to ingest eithe...

The main objective of this work was to study and to characterize cocoa butter and the binary system cocoa butter/supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2). In this way, it was measured the density and the solubility of the heavy phase in equilibrium at high pressures at 40 and 50oC, as the density and compressibility of cocoa butter. The density measurements were done trough an autoclave with a sap...

Cocoa is thought to be an excellent source of antioxidants. Here, we investigated the effects of cocoa supplementation on Drosophila melanogaster life span under different oxidative stress conditions. Our results illustrate that a moderate supplementation of cocoa under normoxia increases the average life span, whereas, at higher concentrations, average life span is normal. Under hyperoxia or i...

Pervasive computing environments are populated with networked services, i.e., autonomous software entities, providing a number of functionalities. One of the most challenging objectives to be achieved within these environments is to assist users in realizing tasks that integrate on the fly functionalities of the networked services opportunely according to the current pervasive environment. Towa...

Endogenous polyphenolic compounds in cacao impart both bitter and astringent characteristics to chocolate confections. While an increase in these compounds may be desirable from a health perspective, they are generally incongruent with consumer expectations. Traditionally, chocolate products undergo several processing steps (e.g., fermentation and roasting) that decrease polyphenol content, and...

The data provide information in support of the research article, "The cleavage specificity of the aspartic protease of cocoa beans involved in the generation of the cocoa-specific aroma precursors" (Janek et al., 2016) [1]. Three different protein substrates were partially digested with the aspartic protease isolated from cocoa beans and commercial pepsin, respectively. The obtained peptide fra...