Healthy Chocolate Guide

Xoçai™ Omega Squares

Get Your Omega 3 Fatty Acids by eating Chocolate!

Essence of Health, the Xoçai™ Omega Squares™

The North American diet is almost completely void of the essential fatty acid Omega-3. Researchers believe that at least 60% of North Americans are presently deficient in Omega-3 fatty acids and that children are obtaining almost no Omega-3. In fact, the deficiency of Omega-3 in the North American diet has now been linked to an extensive list of health-related problems sited in over 2,000 scientific studies.

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to health.

They are considered essential fatty acids, which means that they are essential to human health but cannot be manufactured by the body.

The National Institutes of Health and International Society for the Study of Fatty Acids and Lipids (ISSFAL) recommends that individuals consume at least 220mg daily of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), the most important Omega-3 fatty acids, and that pregnant and nursing women consume at least 300mg daily. For comparison purposes, there is 100mg of DHA per 1/4 cup of canned tuna.

The Xoçai™ Omega Squares™ have a minimum of 200mg of DHA and EPA per three 11 gram squares. The Xoçai™ Omega Squares™ are an excellent source of Omega-3 and promotes the necessary balance of essential fatty acids though the Açaí Berry, flaxseed and a patented, plant-based, encapsulated Omega-3.

Reverse the Imbalance!

It is important to maintain an appropriate balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 in your diet as these two substances work together to promote better health. A healthy diet should consist of roughly two times more Omega-6 fatty acids than Omega-3 fatty acids (2:1).

Many researchers suggested that the present excessive levels of Omega-6 fatty acids, relative to Omega-3 fatty acids (10:1), in the North American diet has created a significant imbalance and is a major factor in the rising rate of diseases in the United States. Omega-9 fatty acids are not classified as essential fatty acids, because they can be created by the human body from unsaturated fat.

The Xoçai™ Omega Squares™ has been developed to provide your body the essential fatty acids for preventative and better health during every stage of your life!

What are the XoBiotic Squares™?

There are many natural functional foods in virtually every food group. As we all know, chocolate itself is a functional food if it contains sufficient antioxidants and flavonoids. However, it is now possible for manufacturers to create functional foods by fortifying and enhancing their products to give them added health benefits never before possible. A new growing segment of functional food is called “probiotics.”

Probiotic means “fit for life,” or “pro life.” Probiotics are living microorganisms which when administered effectively in adequate amounts confer health benefits. The adult intestinal tract is home to approximately 100 trillion microorganisms. More than 400 different bacterial species have already been identified in the intestinal tract.

First, in order to be effective Probiotics must contain bacteria which are resistant to stomach acids and bile salts. Secondly, the bacteria must have the capacity to compete successfully with the indigenous intestinal bacteria. So, either the bacteria must be protected by the use of encapsulation techniques, or new types of foods must be developed which offer increased protection for the bacteria. The key to the effectiveness of probiotic treatment is for the bacteria to be able to pass through the stomach and the small intestines reaching the large intestines with sufficient strength to colonize and flourish.

SHIME stands for “The Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem.” This in vitro system was created to simulate the activities and conditions found in the stomach, small intestines, and large intestines. This enables scientists to monitor the quantity of bacteria that survive the journey to the large intestines. And, it also enables them to monitor the development of the bacterial colonies in the large intestines.

According to the American College of Gastroenterology, 95 million Americans suffer from digestive problems. Some 60 million have heartburn, 50 million have irritable bowel syndrome, and 20 million suffer from stomach ulcers.

Many, many new probiotic products have been launched in North America and Europe. But, we have a distinct advantage. Chocolate appears to be the ideal delivery system for probiotics. Chocolate has been shown to be far superior to milk as a delivery system for Probiotics.

The Xoçai™ XoBiotic™ chocolate will be in the form of an 11-gram square and will deliver 1 billion microorganisms of two types - Lactobacillus Helveticus R0052 and Bifido Bacterium Longum R0175. These probiotics have been selected for our probiotic chocolate because of their stability in chocolate and their guaranteed shelf life equal to the shelf life of the chocolate itself, if properly stored as recommended for all Xoçai™ products (40*F - 75*F). By marrying the health benefits of dark chocolate with those of these two probiotic cultures, which have a positive influence on immune and gut health, we gain new opportunities with health-conscious consumers. Presently there are no approved health claims on probiotics in the US, until now!

Find out more about the Xocai XoBiotic Squares and how to get them by clicking here

By Steven Reinberg, HealthDay Reporter

Daily dose lowered blood pressure, improved insulin sensitivity, study showed.

If it tastes good it must be bad, so the saying goes, but delicious dark chocolate may be the exception to the rule.

In addition to all the pleasurable sensations associated with the sweet, it may also help lower blood pressure by an average of 10 percent while improving the body’s sensitivity to insulin, researchers report.

However, this benefit applies only to dark chocolate, which is rich in flavonoids — the same antioxidant compounds found in fruits, vegetables and whole grains that are known to help lower blood pressure, according to the report in the July 18 online edition of Hypertension.

“It turns out that chocolate is not only a pleasurable food, but it fits in quite nicely with the other healthy recommendations,” said coauthor Jeffrey B. Blumberg, a professor of nutrition and a senior scientist at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. “We found that three ounces of dark chocolate per day over several weeks reduced blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension and also seemed to provide a benefit on their insulin sensitivity,” he added.

In their study, Blumberg’s team had 10 men and 10 women eat 3.5 ounces of dark chocolate every day for 15 days. All of these people had high blood pressure and none were taking blood pressure medications.

First, the researchers had five of the men and five of the women eat dark chocolate while the others ate white chocolate, which contains no flavonoids. Then after another week of no chocolate, the groups “crossed over” and ate the other chocolate.

In the 15 days they were eating dark chocolate, individuals displayed an average 11.9 mm Hg drop in their systolic blood pressure (the top number in a blood pressure reading) and a 8.5 mm Hg drop in diastolic blood pressure (the lower number). However, there was no drop in blood pressure when they ate flavonoid-free white chocolate, the researchers found.

Given these results, Blumberg believes that dark chocolate can be good for you. “Dark chocolate can be included as part of a healthful diet in patients who have hypertension,” he said.

However, he cautioned that you can’t just add it on top of your diet. “It’s still a high-calorie food. You don’t want to have excess calories or put on weight if you have hypertension,” Blumberg said. “But as part of a healthful diet, it is something that you can enjoy and not feel you are violating the principles of a healthful diet.”

Blumberg thinks that being able to enjoy some chocolate can also make it easier to stay on a healthy diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grains.

One expert sees this study as part of a body of evidence that shows that chocolate is good for us. “Dark chocolate may be health-promoting,” said Dr. David L. Katz, an associate clinical professor of public health and director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine.

Katz, who is doing his own research into the benefits of chocolate, noted that chocolate is rich in not only antioxidants, but also magnesium and fiber. “The predominant saturated fat in dark chocolate, stearic acid, does not raise cholesterol or harm blood vessels,” he added.

“Milk chocolate and white chocolate do not offer any known health benefits, and provide more calories, sugar, and potentially harmful oils than dark chocolate,” Katz said, but “dark chocolate may well prove to be health food.”

According to Katz, there are many unanswered questions about chocolate: What is the optimal dose of dark chocolate? How high does the cocoa content need to be to offer health benefits? Who in the population stands to benefit from eating dark chocolate? Are the benefits of liquid cocoa and solid chocolate the same? Can people eat chocolate without gaining weight?

“These answers, and others, will come in time,” Katz said. “For now, it’s clear that not all chocolate is created equal. But it’s delicious to think that indulgence and health may both reside beneath the same wrapper.”

Another expert is more cautious. Without more definitive data on whether chocolate promotes weight gain that might outweigh its benefits, Dr. Jeffrey Mechanick, the director of the Metabolic Support Service at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is hesitant to recommend it as a health food. “I would never tell a heart patient or a diabetic to eat more dark chocolate,” he said.

For patients who do not have these health problems, Mechanick is more lenient. “Having a treat every once in a while is fine,” he said. “My preference is that you have dark chocolate, because it’s looking like maybe dark chocolate may have some benefit. But there are no data to support that it’s truly beneficial. It’s still unproven that it’s beneficial and there could be risks involved.”

Mechanick also warned that the data about the benefits of dark chocolate should not mean replacing other high blood pressure therapy with chocolate. “Chocolate is not an alternative to traditional lifestyle changes or to taking medications to reduce risk of heart disease or to treat diabetes,” he said.

Sources: MSN Health and Fitness: HealthDay: Jeffrey B. Blumberg, Ph.D., professor of nutrition, senior scientist, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Mass.; David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., associate clinical professor of public health, director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; Jeffrey Mechanick, M.D., director, Metabolic Support Service, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, N.Y.; July 18, 2005, online edition Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Dark chocolate gives more of a feeling of satiety than milk choco bars, say researchers, who suggest that the “plain chocolate” may be an efficient way to keep weight down.

Although the health benefits of eating dark chocolate are well known, the scientists at the Department of Human Nutrition at LIFE, University of Copenhagen, have found that dark chocolate is far more filling than milk chocolate, lessening craving for sweet, salty and fatty foods.

To compare the effects of dark and milk chocolate on both appetite and subsequent calorie intake, 16 young and healthy men of normal weight who all liked both dark and milk chocolate took part in a so-called crossover experiment. This meant that they reported for two separate sessions, the first time testing the dark chocolate, and the second time the milk chocolate.

They had all fasted for 12 hours beforehand and were offered 100g of chocolate, which they consumed in the course of 15 minutes. The calorific content was virtually the same for the milk and dark chocolate.

During the following 5 hours, participants were asked to register their appetite every half hour, i.e. their hunger, satiety, craving for special foods and how they liked the chocolate.

Two and a half hours after eating the chocolate, participants were offered pizza ad lib. They were instructed to eat until they felt comfortably satiated. After the meal, the individuals’ calorie intake was registered.

The results were significant. The calorie intake at the subsequent meal where they could eat as much pizza as they liked was 15 per cent lower when they had eaten dark chocolate beforehand.
The participants also stated that the plain chocolate made them feel less like eating sweet, salty or fatty foods.

So apart from providing people with the healthier fatty acids and many antioxidants, dark chocolate can now also help us steer clear of all the sweet, salty and fattening Christmas foods, the researchers said. (ANI)

More International Studies, U of U Research

Now, let’s take a look at the newest international studies on cocoa while comparing and contrasting these interesting findings with the results obtained from a cardiovascular study performed at the University of Utah.

Professor David Kennedy is the director of Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Center at Northumbria University in England. He recently led a group of researchers in exploring the effects of cocoa on the human brain ability to perform mathematical equations. Professor Kennedy, co-author of the study, concluded from the study that consuming chocolate could benefit people when performing mentally challenging tasks.

―For things that are difficult to do, mentally demanding things that maybe crop up in your work, [consuming cocoa] could help,‖ Professor Kennedy said.

The researchers gave a flavanol-rich hot cocoa drink to 30 individuals, and then had them answer various mathematical questions. The cocoa used in the study contained 500 milligrams of flavanols—more than would normally be found in fruits and vegetables. Dark chocolate, as one of the three major sources of flavanols discussed above, contains higher quantities of flavanols than the highly processed chocolate we see in the candy aisle of the grocery store. Flavanols, as previously discussed, are part of a group of chemicals called polyphenols. They increase the level of cerebral blood flow, among many other health benefits.

After consuming the cocoa drink, the volunteers in this study were asked to count backwards in groups of three, beginning with a random number between 800 and 999 (generated by computer). The study showed that the subjects’ mathematical performance was clearly affected by the drink, and suggests that students who binge on chocolate while studying for exams may actually benefit from doing so—at least in terms of mental acuity. Subjects accomplished the calculations more quickly and more accurately than the control group.

The findings were presented at the British Psychological Society annual conference at Brighton, and also showed that subjects were inclined to feel less tired and less mentally drained after answering the questions.

In the interest of full disclosure, the study also found that the same test subjects did struggle with more complex mathematical tasks.

Professor Kennedy stated, ―The amount of flavanols given in the study is more than in the [normal] diet, but there is quite a lot of evidence that general amounts are protective against declining function. The more foods you eat that are high in polyphenols, the better it is for your brain in the long run.

Conclusion: High levels of flavanols found in chocolate can improve mental acuity when taken in the proper amounts.

July 3, 2007 — The health benefits of dark chocolate may include lowering high blood pressure, German researchers report.

But overindulging in dark chocolate might blow your calorie budget, and packing on pounds could raise blood pressure. So portion control may help you have your dark chocolate and reap its health benefits, the new study suggests.

Small amounts of dark chocolate “efficiently reduced blood pressure,” report the researchers, who included Dirk Taubert, MD, PhD, of Germany’s University Hospital of Cologne.

How small is a small amount of dark chocolate? Participants in Taubert’s study were limited to 30 calories per day of dark chocolate. That’s roughly the number of calories in a Hershey’s Kiss.

Dark Chocolate Benefit?

Taubert’s study included 44 adults aged 56-73 in Duisburg, Germany.

The 24 women and 20 men had mild high blood pressure ( hypertension) or borderline blood pressure that fell just short of hypertension. They were otherwise healthy and weren’t taking blood pressure drugs or nutritional supplements.

Taubert’s team split participants into two similar groups.

One group got 30-calorie daily doses of dark chocolate for 18 weeks. The researchers checked the amount of cocoa in the German chocolate bars.

For comparison, the other group got a similar daily dose of “white chocolate,” which doesn’t contain chocolate liquor or cocoa.

Both groups got the same instructions: Take your chocolate dose two hours after dinner, don’t change your normal diet and fitness habits, and keep a diet and exercise diary.

Dark Chocolate and High Blood Pressure

Participants in the dark chocolate study got blood pressure tests and checkups at the study’s start, midpoint, and end.

By the end of the study, those eating dark chocolate lowered their systolic blood pressure by nearly three points and their diastolic blood pressure by almost two points, on average.

Systolic blood pressure is the first, or top, number in a blood pressure reading. Diastolic blood pressure is the second, or bottom, number in a blood pressure reading.

Blood pressure didn’t budge for better or worse in the white chocolate group.

‘Modest’ Benefit From Dark Chocolate

“Although the magnitude of the blood pressure reduction was small, the effects are clinically noteworthy,” Taubert’s team writes.

They note that larger studies are needed and that they’re not sure whether the results apply to people with milder blood pressure or hypertension patients with other health problems.

The study doesn’t show exactly how dark chocolate affects blood pressure. But the researchers note that compounds called flavanols in cocoa may play a role.

Other studies have also shown a link between dark chocolate or cocoa and better blood pressure. However, those studies typically involved bigger doses of chocolate or cocoa to get those benefits, Taubert’s team notes.

Their study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, doesn’t promise that dark chocolate is all that’s needed to beat blood pressure. A healthy diet, exercise, and losing excess weight are important for lowering high blood pressure.

But eating a small amount of dark chocolate daily is a dietary change that’s “easy to adhere to,” the researchers note.

The study was funded by the University Hospital of Cologne. In the journal, none of the researchers report financial ties to any chocolate companies.

Forget the Gatorade, pass up the Powerade; your best bet for a post workout recovery might be the product of cows and cocoa beans.

A 2006 study published in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metanolism caused waves when it concluded that chocolate milk was an effective recovery aid beween workouts.

The scientists found that both time to exhaustion and total work performed by the individuals in the study were significantly greater for chocolate milk as compared to the other sports drinks.

The conclusion of th estudy was that low fat chocolate milk could indeed be an effective replacement for the most popular fluid and carb recovery drinks on the market shelves, due to the high carb and protein content provided by chocolate milk.

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