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Over the past 4 years, I’ve eaten a lot of dark chocolate, and some of the world’s best bars have made their way through our kitchen. Amedei, Valrhona, Michel Cluizel, El Rey, Domori, Bonnat. The nice thing about chocolate is that it is a very affordable luxury. You can grab yourself the world’s finest bar for less than $20.
Besides tasting great, there’s been a bunch of research over the past couple years showing dark chocolate may actually have some health benefits. For example, studies have shown dark chocolate can lower the “bad” LDL cholesterol, as well as blood pressure in patients with hypertension. And for those interested in improving cognitive performance, please see an earlier Smartkit post about how dark chocolate can boost brain power by improving verbal and visual memory, as well as reaction time. What I haven’t really posted about yet, however, is chocolate’s ability to induce euphoria. All varieties can do it, but I believe dark chocolate does it best. The numerous feel-good chemicals include:
- theobromine (a stimulant)
- anandamide (marijuana like substances)
- phenethylamine (aka PEA, “love drug”)
- caffeine
- and cocoa flavanols
This brings me to CocoaVia, a new chocolate bar put out by the Mars Company that is just starting to become readily available.
What is special about CocoaVia? Out of all the bars I’ve ever eaten, I’m close to concluding it packs the greatest feel-good punch. Thought it was a fluke the first time I tried it, but after having eaten about 10 over the past few weeks, I’m basically convinced.
What is unique about CocoaVia’s composition? The thing that made me want to go out and give it a try is that it’s processed differently from normal chocolate. Under normal manufacturing conditions, almost all of the health-giving plant chemicals (flavanols) are stripped right out. The Mars Company has apparently spent a fortune trying to figure out a way to create chocolate that still retains all these healthy flavanols. In the last year or two, they’ve succeeded, and their top-secret, specially processed flavanol-rich chocolate is called CocoaPro.
And CocoaVia is the world’s first chocolate bar made with CocoaPro.
If any of you chocoholics out there give it a try, I’d be very curious to hear if you notice a similar effect. Please feel free to let me know in the comments section what you think.
A note of caution, though: I personally don’t think CocoaVia tastes very good. Additionally, I’ve noticed a few pimples and zits eating CocoaVia- something that also commonly occurs with other Mars chocolates like Dove and M&M’s.
If you really want all the brain and health benefits that chocolate flavanols confer, you may prefer to go straight to the raw cacao beans. Most health food stores now sell these chopped in the form of cacao nibs.
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You can get dark choclates with at leats 75% cocoa and more likely 90% which I prefer and avoid the gimmicks like Mars is doing. Go for the real thing. It only costs rouhgly 2-3 dollars for a 100g bar of dark flavonoid rich cocoa so what’s the hopla about processed chocolate?
Hi Michael, I suspect that some of the high quality dark chocolate bars probably do have decent amounts of flavanols. Note, however, this statement from the Chocolate Manufactures Association (CMA):
“While dark chocolate has been praised by health experts for its high content of flavanol antioxidants, consumers should be wary of automatically assuming that the higher the cacao percentage, the more flavanols the chocolate contains… Actual levels of flavanol content may fluctuate widely depending upon recipe, cocoa bean selection, subsequent processing practices and storage and handling conditions. Therefore, ‘% cacao’ may not necessarily indicate the flavanol content of chocolates.”
I was buying this article as scientific until I got to the reference to zits and pimples. It is well knoewn that chocolate does not cause pimples, contrary to the old common opinion.
It is well known amongst dermatologists that chocolate can indeed give you acne.
Interesting and different.
Thanks.
Is this effect permenant or temporary? Does it take time to have an effect or does it get to work on your brain as soon as you eat it?
Hi Kyle-the effect would only be temporary. Onset of effects would depend on what else is in your stomach. If there’s nothing to slow down digestion, I’ll notice an effect within 1-2 hours.
good news