cacao
Quick Facts
- What it is: Cacao is the fermented, roasted seed of Theobroma cacao, the source of cocoa and chocolate.
- Main uses: Mildly raised blood pressure, Blood vessel function, Mood and alertness
- Active ingredients: Flavanols (epicatechin, catechin), Procyanidins, Theobromine, Caffeine, Magnesium
- Forms: Dark chocolate, Cocoa powder, Cacao nibs, Ceremonial cacao blocks, Cocoa flavanol capsules
- Time to effect: Alertness within an hour; blood pressure changes after about two weeks
- Side effects: Usually mild: poor sleep, reflux, jitters, and weight gain from sugary products.
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What is cacao?
Cacao is the seed of Theobroma cacao, a small tree from tropical America. The beans are fermented, dried, roasted and ground. That paste becomes cocoa powder, cocoa butter and chocolate.
As a health product, cacao is sold mainly for the heart. Dark chocolate, raw cacao powder and cocoa flavanol capsules are the usual forms. The selling point is flavanols, plant compounds that are richest in lightly processed beans.
Here is the short verdict. Cocoa flavanols lower blood pressure by a small amount in human trials. A large supplement trial did not cut heart attacks and strokes overall.
Cacao has been drunk in Latin America for thousands of years. Long use is not proof that it works, and it is not proof that it is safe.
How does cacao work?
Most of the proposed action is credited to flavanols, above all one called epicatechin.
In human trials, cocoa flavanols slightly relax and widen blood vessels. This is linked to more nitric oxide, a signal the body uses to loosen vessel walls.
In cell and animal studies, cacao compounds appear to calm inflammation and soak up free radicals. Whether that changes disease in people is not settled.
Cacao also holds theobromine and a little caffeine. Both are mild stimulants. They can lift alertness and nudge up heart rate.
Mood claims are weaker. Cacao has tiny amounts of compounds such as phenylethylamine and anandamide. Lab work shows they act on brain signals, but food amounts are very small.
Taste, sugar, fat and habit likely explain much of the comfort people feel from chocolate.
What forms does cacao come in?
Cacao reaches you in very different strengths, and that changes what you get.
Dark chocolate. Bars from 70 to 100 percent cocoa solids, with sugar and fat included.
Milk chocolate. Much lower in cocoa solids and higher in sugar.
Cocoa powder. Unsweetened, used in drinks and baking. Natural powder keeps more flavanols than alkalised powder.
Cacao nibs. Crushed roasted beans, eaten as a crunchy topping.
Raw cacao powder and paste. Less heated, often sold as a health food.
Cocoa butter. The fat alone, with almost no flavanols.
Cocoa flavanol capsules. Standardised extracts used in research, sold as supplements.
Ceremonial cacao blocks. Whole ground bean, drunk thick and bitter, often in group settings.
Where it comes from:
Cacao was used in Mesoamerica for at least 3,000 years. Residues show cacao drinks among the Olmec, and later the Maya and the Mexica (Aztec).
The drink was bitter, frothed, and often mixed with maize, chilli or vanilla. Beans also served as money and as tribute.
Cacao carried weight in ritual, marriage rites and burials. Healers recorded it for fatigue, poor appetite and thin bodies, and as a base for other medicines.
Spanish colonists carried it to Europe in the 1500s, where sugar was added. European pharmacy texts later listed cocoa as a tonic and as a vehicle for bitter drugs.
Modern ceremonial cacao circles draw on these roots, though their format is recent and not a direct copy of old practice.
Who should avoid cacao?
- Never give chocolate, cocoa or cacao to dogs, cats or other pets. Theobromine can poison and kill them.
- Do not use cacao instead of your prescribed blood pressure medicine.
- Do not take cocoa flavanol supplements if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, unless your doctor agrees. Ordinary chocolate as food is fine within normal caffeine limits.
- Do not use cacao if you have had an allergic reaction to chocolate or cocoa.
- Do not give cocoa extract supplements to children.
- Avoid cacao in the evening if you have trouble sleeping.
- Avoid large daily amounts if you have had calcium oxalate kidney stones, the most common stone type.
- Avoid cacao if it sets off your GERD (acid reflux, where stomach acid rises into the gullet).
- Avoid chocolate if it reliably triggers your migraines.
- Avoid heavy daily cocoa powder use if you have chronic kidney disease, because of oxalate and heavy metal load.
- Avoid daily cocoa extract if you take warfarin or another blood thinner, unless your doctor agrees.
When should you see a doctor?
Stop and get urgent care if you have chest pain, a racing or irregular heartbeat, or you faint.
Get emergency help for swelling of the lips, tongue or throat, a spreading rash, or trouble breathing. These suggest a serious allergic reaction.
See your doctor if your blood pressure stays high, if reflux or headaches become frequent, or if you pass blood in your stool or urine while on a blood thinner.
Call a vet at once if a pet eats chocolate. Do not wait for symptoms.
Is cacao legal where you live?
Cacao is an ordinary food worldwide, and chocolate is sold freely. In the United States, cocoa flavanol capsules are sold as dietary supplements and are not approved as medicines. In the European Union, an authorised claim links about 200 mg of cocoa flavanols daily to normal blood vessel elasticity.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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