That bitterness that you taste when you have cacao is a good thing. That bitterness is the
polyphenols. You're tasting that. You're tasting flavonoids, flavonols. You're tasting catechin,
epicatechin, procyanidins. These are the things that can have a powerful effect within our body.
You see, cacao has a lot of various benefits. The one that's probably widely talked about the most
is the antioxidant benefit, but when you look at that, you see that cacao has one of the highest
oxygen radical absorbance scores. Okay? That means that it has an ability to really neutralize free
radicals very well. But that's a world that we have to tread lightly when we talk about.
Antioxidants are just a difficult thing to talk about, but we do know as far as that ORAC score
is concerned, that cacao sits pretty high. But let's talk about some of the other
benefits that may not be known with cacao. For example, theobromine,
theobromine is in the same family as caffeine and is responsible for some of that sustained
energy lift that you get when you have cacao. Okay? You're not talking about this big major
rise and fall that you might get with caffeine. Theobromine kind of operates differently. So,
it's pretty interesting, and there's a lot of new bodies of research coming out surrounding it.
Now, additionally, cacao can stimulate a pretty significant release of some major
neurotransmitters, things like dopamine, serotonin, so that can explain the mood
lift that you get. So, yeah, you potentially get some energy when you have the theobromine, but
a lot of times you see that people potentially get these pretty decent mood lifts out of it,
too. And there's some evidence to back that up, as well. In fact, there was a
study that was published in the Journal of Depression and Anxiety that looked at over
13,000 people. And with this study, they gave them dark chocolate, not milk chocolate,
and their subjective mood scores improved dramatically. They had quite an improvement in
how they described their mood. Okay? So, we definitely see that's a big study, too, looking at
a lot of people. Now, of course, it's not getting down to some biochemical mechanism of action,
but subjective scores are also very important because they tell us how we really feel.
But one of the things that I am most fascinated about when it comes to cacao is something called
mitochondrial biogenesis, and I'm going to be careful not to lose you here because this can get
complicated, but I'm going to make it simple. Our mitochondria is where we've manufactured energy.
Right? And the more mitochondria that we have, the more potential oxygen we can utilize and
create energy. So, mitochondrial biogenesis is where we produce more mitochondria. Well,
there's some interesting evidence that's showing that cacao might have some benefit there.
So, there's a study that was published in the American College of Cardiology, took a look at
17 relatively sedentary adults, and it had them consume either a placebo or two squares of extra
dark chocolate for three months. It sounds like a study that I wouldn't mind being in. Right?
So, after three months, they were determining that, "Wow, the group that had the dark chocolate
was starting to see a trend towards an increase in VO2 max." What that means is their ability
to use oxygen and create energy was starting to increase. Wow. Well, they also noticed that they
had elevated levels of PGC1A, I'll explain it in a second, and elevated levels of AMPK.
These are both indicative of the body adapting and building this ability
to process fuel better in a deprived state. Now, what's likely going on
here is the nitric oxide component of cacao is driving this because nitric oxide can drive
what is called PGC1A. PGC1A is protein that's activated, and once it goes into the nucleus
of a cell, it triggers the cell to say, "Hey, we need more mitochondria." So, it's a signal to say,
"Hey, get stronger." So, if you were to go out for a run and really run hard,
you can probably bet that you're going to have some PGC1A activated to be able to demand that
your body up-regulate processes to get better at running. Well, dark chocolate is seeming to
improve that mitochondrial biogenesis by improving AMPK and PGC1A in its phosphorylated form. For you
biochemistry nerds, you know what that means. So, anyhow, cacao is a very interesting thing.
And Antler Farms is a really interesting cacao because it's harvested properly. It's actually
harvested in the Amazon basin so they're doing it in the rainforest the way that it should be done.
Okay? So, we're not talking pesticides, we're talking very little pollution. I mean, if any.
It's being harvested and grown in an area where it's been cultivated for over 3,000
years by indigenous groups, so it's just very trusted. So, it's tended to by hand
year-round. Okay? They harvest it year round, pick it by hand,
ferment it, dry it, put it into a powder, so you're really getting is true, raw form.
Now, there are a lot of different kinds of cacao out there that you have to be cognizant of.
Some are going to have metals in them, some are going to have pesticides, some are not organic,
some are not raw, some are roasted. You have to be looking for the right one, so make sure
you're finding a raw cacao that is certified organic that is coming from the right region.
Antler Farms has put their best foot forward with that, which is why I appreciate the heck out of
what they're doing. So, either way, do your own research on cacao. Make sure it's something that
you want to add into the mix. But the science is really leaning towards cacao being a pretty
powerful compound that we could all get some benefit out of. I'll see you soon.