Cacao Beans = Brain Food

If you are in need of a little brain food, cacao beans are officially ranked as #2 by BrainReady.com as one of The Top 5 Brain Health Foods. Cacao beans, the foundation of chocolate and cocoa powder, are renowned for its mood enhancement, “antioxidants, flavonoids, catechins and other brain and body enhancing elements”.

As you look to chocolate for brain power, BrainReady.com recommends non-Dutched processed cocoa which removes many of the positive elements from the cocoa powder. Dutched-processed cocoa is processed with an alkalizing agent which refines the powder and decreases the cocoa’s acidity levels. Instead, look to indulge in high cacao contain chocolate bars with at least 75% cacao content, 100% organic non-alkalized chocolate products or chocolate/cocoa that is minimally processed.

Here is the complete list of The Top 5 Brain Health Foods from BrainReady.com :

1. Wild Salmon
2. Cacao Beans
3. Matcha (stone-ground Gyokuru green tea powder)
4. Acai Berries & Blueberries (tie)
5. Coffee Beans

Cocoa Clinical Trials

The United Kingdom’s University of East Anglia is starting a clinical trial with post menopausal women with type 2 diabetes for a study on cocoa and heart disease. Cocoa is rich with flavonoids. Unfortunately during the manufacturing process from cacao bean to bar, the benefits of flavonoids and their antioxidant characteristics are lost. Antioxidants may help us protect our cells from free radicals or molecules that are produced when our body breakdowns food or from the environment (such as smoke, radiation etc.).

Volunteers for the study will receive a specially formulated type of chocolate that has more flavonoids than a typical one found in stores today. The goal of the study is to determine the impact of cocoa’s flavonoids on heart disease.

This study, which most likely is currently underway, ties back to another article I read about how cocoa’s flavonoids are lost in Dutched processed cocoa. Dutch processing is when a cocoa is treated with an alkaline salt such as sodium or potassium carbonate to neutralize the bitter taste of the cocoa. Although the Dutch processed cocoa has a milder taste, the good health benefits decrease along the way.