A new look at dark chocolate

Source：American Chemical Society via Ne Release Date：2014-03-20 291

Food & Beverage

New study suggests that good gut bacteria help ferment components of cocoa powder into healthy compounds; addition of prebiotics and solid fruit even better

Dark chocolate is known to be a source of flavonoids which help prevent cardiovascular disease, and even protect the skin from UV rays. But as to how the chocolate is broken down by the body to gain the benefits is far from being understood, until recently. A new theory explains that when microbes devour dark chocolate, the good bacteria - Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria grow and ferment the chocolate, to yield anti-inflammatory compounds, whilst the bad bacteria, E.coli and Clostridia are responsible for discomforts such as bloating, diarrhoea, gas, and constipation. The anti-inflammatory compounds are then absorbed by the body, reducing inflammation of heart tissue.

Presenting their discovery before the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), John Finley, Ph.D. and Maria Moore, undergraduate from the Louisiana State University, further explained what occurs after digestion. With a model digestive tract and cocoa powder samples, in hand, the group demonstrated the process. Non-digestible materials were subjected to anaerobic fermentation.

Dr Finley said that the components in cocoa powder - polyphenolic, or antioxidant, compounds such as catechin and epicatechin, and dietary fibre, are not digested nor absorbed well. These go through the colon where the good bacteria process them.

“In our study we found that the fibre is fermented and the large polyphenolic polymers are metabolised to smaller molecules, which are more easily absorbed. These smaller polymers exhibit anti-inflammatory activity,” he said.

Prebiotics advantage

According to Dr Finley, the fibre in cocoa and the addition of prebiotics would aid in the conversion of polyphenolics in the stomach into anti-inflammatory compounds.

“When you ingest prebiotics, the beneficial gut microbial population increases and outcompetes any undesirable microbes in the gut, like those that cause stomach problems,” he said. The addition of solid fruits (pomegranate and acai) to dark chocolate further increases the health benefits, he said.

He said that this study is the first to look at the effects of dark chocolate on the various types of bacteria in the stomach. The researchers are with Louisiana State University.

This study, which was supported by the Louisiana State College of Agriculture and a Louisiana AgCenter Undergraduate Research GrantNike Air Max 270