Cocoa flavonols can enhance blood flow

ZURICH, Switzerland and WIEZE, Belgium – The world's leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate products, Barry Callebaut announced that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) issued a positive opinion on the company's health claim dossier submitted last year.

The EFSA positive opinion is for a health claim that "cocoa flavanols help maintain endothelium-dependent vasodilation which contributes to normal blood flow" for which Barry Callebaut was able to provide evidence that the intake of 200-mg of cocoa flavanols (provided by 2.5-g of high-flavanol cocoa powder or 10-g of high-flavanol dark chocolate) positively influence blood circulation in the human body.

Barry Callebaut is the first company in the EU to obtain a positive scientific opinion on a health claim on cocoa flavanols.

CEO Juergen Steinemann said the EFSA’s positive opinion is “very valuable” for Barry Callebaut. “As the first company receiving such a health claim, we see new market potential both for us and for our customers. The health claim is also a reward for our long years of extensive research on the benefits of cocoa flavanols on the human body," Mr Steinemann said.

Since 2005, Barry Callebaut has carried out more than 20 human clinical studies examining various impacts of cocoa flavanols on the human body. For these studies, the company used cocoa powder and chocolate products made through its own developed ‘ACTICOA’ process, which results in high-flavanol cocoa products. The specific process is the outcome of years of research into ways of preserving cocoa flavanols. It succeeded in maintaining up to 80% of the cocoa flavanols which would be destroyed for the most part during conventional chocolate-making process.