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[mIEKAL aND <qazingulaza@gmail.com>]

(if only I could figure out how to grow cacao as a container plant,
I've never been able to keep one alive for more than a couple years)

Chocolate is the new super fruit, claim Hershey scientists

http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Chocolate-is-the-new-super-fruit-claim-Hershey-scientists

By Jane Byrne, 07-Feb-2011


Cocoa powder and dark chocolate has equivalent polyphenol content and
greater antioxidant and flavanol content than various super fruits,
claims a new study by research scientists based at the Hershey Center
for Health and Nutrition.

Research suggests chocolate can deliver a bigger antioxidant payload
than some so-called super fruits
The authors, who published their findings in the Chemistry Central
Journal said that their results indicate that cacao seeds thus provide
nutritive value beyond that derived from their macronutrient
composition and thus should be termed ‘super fruit’.

The fruit pulp of the Theobroma cacao pod that surrounds its seeds can
be consumed; however the vast majority of people have only consumed
the seed-derived portion of cacao in the form of cocoa powder or
chocolate. So the goal of the study, said the Hershey scientists, was
to compare cocoa powder and chocolate, products representing the
commonly eaten portion of the cacao fruit, with powders and juices
from so-called “Super Fruits”.

Cocoa powder and chocolate were compared with powders derived from
acai, blueberry, cranberry, and pomegranate, continued the authors, on
measures of antioxidant activity, as measured by oxygen radical
absorbance capacity (ORAC (?M TE/g)), total polyphenol content (TP
(mg/g)), and total flavanol content (TF (mg/g)).

(more online)