A guiltless gift for your Valentine is chocolate. But first read this blog! Take a cocoa bean remove the natural fats (cocoa butter) and cocoa powder is left for making ‘chocolate’ goodies. Rich in flavanols, a strong antioxidants many of us indulge!
Several studies point to lowers rates of cardiovascular risk – lowers blood pressure, increase ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. Research also suggests another benefit – memory improvement.
Don’t forget chocolate products especially bars contain caffeine as much as 56mg in Ghirardelli’s Organic Green & Black 85%. A chocolate bar’s ‘Supplemental Facts‘ do not list caffeineYou’ll be impressed how much iron is contained but it is poorly absorbed. However, when you add Vitamin C to a cocoa powder drink children were found to absorb more iron.
The dark side no pun intended is contamination with toxic heavy metal cadmium (probable carcinogen). Lead is also a toxin in cocoa bars. Like lead and other heavy metals it accumulates in your body throughout life.
Cocoa comes the ‘bar’ in powders, capsules supplements and nibs and my favorite – traditional bar. Read a recent blog that offers more detail on this site.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
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