Click Here to Subscribe: [ Ссылка ]
SunWarrior's Lean Meal Replacement - Use Code "thomas" at Checkout: [ Ссылка ]

Also Check Out Cacao Betulia's Awesome Chocolate Collection: [ Ссылка ]

This video does contain a paid partnership with brands that help to support this channel. It is because of brands like these that we are able to provide the content that we do for free. The best way that you can directly support my channel, is by supporting the brands that help make this all possible. Any product that you see on my channel is a product that I also use personally, regardless of any paid promotion.

Get my Free Newsletter and Downloadable Cheatsheets (eating out, travel, etc): [ Ссылка ]

Follow More of My Daily Life on Instagram: [ Ссылка ]

Special Thanks to my team and Nicholas Norwitz - Oxford PhD Researcher and Harvard Med Student - for working diligently on research as well!

It's important that I am honest and to say that this video does have sponsorships from SunWarrior & Cacao Betulia, supporting them is a good way to support my channel!

Chocolate Processing and Terminology
Cacao pods, each containing 50 or so cacao beans, are harvested from the Theobroma cacao tree.

The beans are removed from the pods and fermented for about one week. They are dried in the sun for another week.

The fermented, dried beans can then be roasted. This converts the “cacao” to “cocoa.” The high temperatures from the roasting process destroy some of the polyphenols and other “healthy” components within cacao.

The roasted cocoa beans are then crushed into “cocoa nibs.”

The cocoa nibs are be ground into “baker’s chocolate.”

Melting ground cocoa nibs makes “chocolate liquor.”

Chocolate liquor is usually then pressed to separate the fat, the “cocoa butter,” from the remainder, “cocoa mass.”

The cocoa butter and cocoa mass are then recombined with sugar in different ratios to make chocolate of different darkness percentages.

Macros, Vitamins, and Minerals
Cacao and dark chocolate made from pure cacao actually contains slightly more protein (3.1g/oz) than net carbs (2.5g/oz).

Cacao and 100% dark chocolate are packed with fiber, containing 2.33 grams of fiber for every gram of net carb.

Most of the calories in dark chocolate come from fat, which can be split almost equally into three parts: oleic acid (MUFA), stearic acid (SAT), and palmitic acid (SAT).

Polyphenol Antioxidants
Chocolate is chock-full of polyphenol antioxidants, including flavanols, catechins, anthocyanins, and dozens more.

Decreased blood pressure and increased coronary blood flow, via NO. Consuming just 2 ounces of flavanol-rich dark chocolate per day increases the production of nitric oxide (NO), a gaseous hormone that causes your blood vessels to dilate, decreasing blood pressure and significantly increasing blood flow to the heart.

Decreased blood clotting. By decreasing levels of “thromboxane A2,” cacao/dark chocolate inhibits platelet aggregation and blood clotting. This is especially important when one considers that atherosclerotic plaques are internal blood clots.

Increased HDL and decreased LDL and triglycerides: [ Ссылка ]

Neurodegenerative Disease and Brain Function
In this human cell study, cacao extract boosted BDNF levels and protected neurons from Aβ toxicity: [ Ссылка ]

In this rat study, feeding an Alzheimer’s model of rats with 70% dark chocolate for 3 months improved cognitive performance: [ Ссылка ]

Mechanisms by which cacao and cacao polyphenols may protect against Alzheimer’s disease and otherwise improve brain function include boosting BDNF levels to increase neurogenesis and neurosurvival and increasing vasodilation and blood flow to the brain: [ Ссылка ]

Microbiome and Gut Inflammation: [ Ссылка ]

Increases the number of healthy anti-inflammatory Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species and decreased the number of inflammatory Clostridium species: [ Ссылка ]

Cacao polyphenols inhibit NFκB: [ Ссылка ]

Can treat inflammatory bowel diseases like ulcerative colitis: [ Ссылка ]

Mood and Depression

Depression and Anxiety 2019 [ Ссылка ]

Chocolate is one of the richest natural sources of “phenethylamine” : [ Ссылка ]

Also contains the “happiness hormone” serotonin and “bliss chemical” anandamide.

Nicholas Norwitz - Oxford PhD Researcher and Harvard Med Student:
[ Ссылка ]

свернуть