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...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of oven and traditional roasting on the polyphenol content, antioxidant activity, lipid quality, proximate composition and mineral content of fermented cocoa beans. Results showed that traditional roasting significantly decrease (p < 0.05) the polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of cocoa beans. The analysis of oil showed that oven ...

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...

Introduction The chocolate industry is part of a multibillion dollar industry where the constant growing demand has encouraged chocolate manufactures to seek the best ingredients to satisfy the most exquisite demands (Chocosuisse 2011). Nowadays the cocoa industry has grown quickly and many companies offer a wider variety of products, where the main ingredient is this famous seed called cocoa. ...

The consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate is associated with a lower risk of CVD, and improvements in endothelial function may mediate this relationship. Less is known about the effects of cocoa/chocolate on the augmentation index (AI), a measure of vascular stiffness and vascular tone in the peripheral arterioles. We enrolled thirty middle-aged, overweight adults in a randomised, placebo-con...

UNLABELLED DNA methylation regulates gene expression and can be modified by different bioactive compounds in foods, such as polyphenols. Cocoa is a rich source of polyphenols, but its role in DNA methylation is still unknown. The objective was to assess the effect of cocoa consumption on DNA methylation and to determine whether the enzymes involved in the DNA methylation process participate in ...

Polyphenols have gained much interest recently due to its antioxidant capacity and possible benefits to human health such as anti-carcinogenic, anti-atherogenic, anti-ulcer, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, immune modulating, anti-microbial, vasodilatory and analgesic effects. Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) is a rich source of polyphenols and reported having high antioxidant activity than teas an...