Why Organic Raw Cacao?

Concentrated nutrients - because raw cacao is concentrated 'raw power', RAW cacao powder has at least 33% more of many of cacao's most vital nutrients! In Raw Cacao Powder, much of the oil is removed, while nearly all of the active nutrients remain. For example...

● Cacao is remarkably rich in magnesium. Cacao seems to be the #1 source of magnesium of any food. This is likely the primary reason women crave chocolate during the menstrual cycle. Magnesium balances brain chemistry, builds strong bones, and combats depression. Cacao is the richest food source of magnesium of any common food. Magnesium is the number one mineral that assists and supports healthy heart functioning. Magnesium is the most deficient major mineral on the Standard American Diet (SAD); over 80% of Americans are chronically deficient in Magnesium!                   

● Cacao seems to diminish appetite, probably due to its monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors (MAO inhibitors) - these are different from digestive enzyme inhibitors found in most nuts and seeds. These rare MAO inhibitors actually produce favorable results when consumed by allowing more serotonin and other neurotransmitters to circulate in the brain. According to Dr. Gabriel Cousens, MAO inhibitors facilitate youth regeneration and rejuvenation. Encourages weight loss naturally.

● Phenylethylamine (PEA) is found in chocolate. PEA is an adrenal-related chemical that is also created within the brain and released when we are in love. This is one of the reasons why love and chocolate have a deep correlation. PEA also plays a role in increasing focus and alertness.  Researchers have discovered that phenylethylamine (PEA) has a positive effect in enhancing feelings of love. And Chocolate has been proven to be an excellent source of PEA.

● Anandamide (The Bliss Chemical) - A neurotransmitter called anandamide, has been isolated in cacao. Anandamide is also produced naturally in the brain. Anandamide is known as "The Bliss Chemical" because it is released while we are feeling great. Cacao contains enzyme inhibitors that decrease our bodies' ability to breakdown anandamide. This means that natural anandamide and/or cacao anandamide may stick around longer, making us feel good longer, when we eat cacao.

● Antioxidants keep you looking young and help fight disease.  One bottle of Sunfood Cacao Powder delivers 433,570 ORAC Antioxidant units. ORAC antioxidant laboratory analysis confirms that there are over 25,200 antioxidants in a single spoonful of our raw cacao powder!  Dark chocolate has been touted as a source of antioxidants, but this raw chocolate is way beyond that. Living proof that raw is better!  
Italian researchers found eating 100 grams of dark chocolate each day for 15 days lowered blood pressure in the 15-person study. The University of L'Aquila team also found the body's ability to metabolise sugar -- a problem for people with diabetes -- was improved. Because the effect was believed to be due to antioxidant levels, with Raw Cacao Powder we can likely multiply this effect.

Dutch researchers indicate that dark chocolate contains four times the amount of catechin antioxidants than black tea, which is suspected of having a protective effect against heart disease and possibly cancer, due to its antioxidant properties. With Raw Cacao Powder, it would be 28 times more than Black Tea and potentially 7 times the protection!

● In trials, doctors at Harvard found that Antioxidant compounds called Flavonols in chocolate help the body to produce nitric oxide, a compound essential for proper heart function. (Nitric oxide is also believed by pro bodybuilders to help increase muscularity.) Again, with Raw Cacao Powder, this effect could easily be multiplied.  Remember that raw cacao powder contains about seven times as many antioxidants as cooked cacao powder, that's about 723% more!

● The amino acid Tryptophan is found naturally in cacao. Tryptophan enhances relaxation and promotes better sleep. Now you'll get at least 33% more when you use Raw Cacao Powder!

● Raw Cacao Powder has at least 33% more Arginine, the aphrodisiac-like amino acid believed by body builders to build muscle and aid in recovery.

Sacred raw chocolate and raw cacao. 
In fact, for thousands of years, ancient Mayans, ancient Aztecs and Incans have known about the amazing healing properties of the chocolate and they have used them in their daily cultural rituals as well as in their healing habits.

In fact, the seeds of raw cacao were held to be so sacred, the legends has it that the Incans used Cocoa beans as money and the ancient Incans used it like gold bullion as they filled their treasury holds with tons of cocoa beans. Unfortunately, nowadays the positive benefit of this wonderful superfood is not known widely. Although, everyone enjoys chocolate, people do not consume it in its raw form for the maximum benefit that they can derive from it. Some benefits of raw cacao and raw chocolate include:

It acts as a stimulant, so that the energy level in your body will receive a boost and you will feel better about yourself.

It can also help to reduce chronic fatigue and general weakness caused by stress.

Raw chocolate and raw cacao can help strengthen your cardiovascular system.

This special superfood helps to regulate your sleep.

Most importantly, pure chocolate directly stimulates various neurotransmitters in your brain (such as serotonin) to help reduce depression and to give a sense of euphoria or a sense of well being. Hence, your mood will be uplifted and you will feel better about yourself.

Raw chocolate has a very high ORAC quotient. ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity. This is an important property, as it denotes the ability to absorb free radicals from your body. This can be a very useful concept for helping you to protect your body from carcinogens and free radicals that cause cancer.

Raw chocolate is also considered as a mild aphrodisiac as it has shown to increase sexual appetite after regular consumption.

Raw chocolate can also help stimulate your immune system.

How dark chocolate may guard against brain injury from stroke
(May 5, 2010) -- Researchers have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage. ...

ScienceDaily (May 5, 2010) — Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a compound in dark chocolate may protect the brain after a stroke by increasing cellular signals already known to shield nerve cells from damage.

Ninety minutes after feeding mice a single modest dose of epicatechin, a compound found naturally in dark chocolate, the scientists induced an ischemic stroke by essentially cutting off blood supply to the animals' brains. They found that the animals that had preventively ingested the epicatechin suffered significantly less brain damage than the ones that had not been given the compound.

While most treatments against stroke in humans have to be given within a two- to three-hour time window to be effective, epicatechin appeared to limit further neuronal damage when given to mice 3.5 hours after a stroke. Given six hours after a stroke, however, the compound offered no protection to brain cells.

Sylvain Doré, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine and pharmacology and molecular sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says his study suggests that epicatechin stimulates two previously well-established pathways known to shield nerve cells in the brain from damage. When the stroke hits, the brain is ready to protect itself because these pathways -- Nrf2 and heme oxygenase 1 -- are activated. In mice that selectively lacked activity in those pathways, the study found, epicatechin had no significant protective effect and their brain cells died after a stroke.

The study now appears online in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism.

Eventually, Doré says, he hopes his research into these pathways could lead to insights into limiting acute stroke damage and possibly protecting against chronic neurological degenerative conditions, such as Alzheimer's disease and other age-related cognitive disorders.

The amount of dark chocolate people would need to consume to benefit from its protective effects remains unclear, since Doré has not studied it in clinical trials. People shouldn't take this research as a free pass to go out and consume large amounts of chocolate, which is high in calories and fat. In fact, people should be reminded to eat a healthy diet with a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Scientists have been intrigued by the potential health benefits of epicatechin by studying the Kuna Indians, a remote population living on islands off the coast of Panama. The islands' residents had a low incidence of cardiovascular disease. Scientists who studied them found nothing striking in the genes and realized that when they moved away from Kuna, they were no longer protected from heart problems. Researchers soon discovered the reason was likely environmental: The residents of Kuna regularly drank a very bitter cocoa drink, with a consistency like molasses, instead of coffee or soda. The drink was high in the compound epicatechin, which is a flavanol, a flavanoid-related compound.

But Doré says his research suggests the amount needed could end up being quite small because the suspected beneficial mechanism is indirect. "Epicatechin itself may not be shielding brain cells from free radical damage directly, but instead, epicatechin, and its metabolites, may be prompting the cells to defend themselves," he suggests.

The epicatechin is needed to jump-start the protective pathway that is already present within the cells. "Even a small amount may be sufficient," Doré says.

Not all dark chocolates are created equally, he cautions. Some have more bioactive epicatechin than others.

"The epicatechin found in dark chocolate is extremely sensitive to changes in heat and light" he says. "In the process of making chocolate, you have to make sure you don't destroy it. Only few chocolates have the active ingredient. The fact that it says 'dark chocolate' is not sufficient."

The new study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart and Stroke Association.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers on the study include Zahoor A. Shah, Ph.D.; Rung-chi Li, Ph.D.; Abdullah S. Ahmad, Ph.D.; Thomas W. Kensler, Ph.D.; and Shyam Biswal, Ph.D.