Last year, we devoted one of our columns to discussing the amazing power of Koko Samoa (Samoan Cocoa), as part of the whole foods plant-based (WFPB) diet that METI promotes, to improve heart and vascular health (cardio-vascular health). 

We explained that cocoa beans are one of the richest sources of phytochemicals (plant chemicals), called flavanols, which are the cause of these health-promoting properties of cocoa. Research conducted at the turn of the century proved that flavanols stay in the bloodstream for up to eight hours, and during that time stimulate the cells of the inner layer of the arteries (throughout the body) to secrete nitric oxide, a gas that causes the muscle fibers in the middle layer of the arteries to relax. 

As a result, the blood vessels open up (dilate), which promptly increases the blood flow to the various organs around the body. For the cocoa beans to retain their flavanol richness, they must only be sundried and not roasted (as this destroys the flavanols). The beneficial effect of high-flavanol cocoa is based on the extensive research conducted with the Kuna Indians living on the islands off the coast of Panama. 

Following those research findings, METI recommends making a drink with about 20 cocoa beans (koko maka) that are consumed in divided portions throughout the day. In practice, a large mug of cocoa drink, three times a day. It must be noted that besides drinking cocoa, the Kuna Indians also follow a mostly plant-based diet. 

Following the observation that consuming flavanol-rich cocoa opened up the arteries, and so brought down blood pressure, and increased the blood flow to the heart muscle, researchers turned their attention to other parts of the body that might benefit from drinking flavanol-rich cocoa.  It was observed that the flavanols and their metabolized products can cross the so-called ‘blood-brain barrier’, reach critical brain structures and so, therefore, could have an effect on brain function. (The ‘blood-brain barrier’ is made up of tightly packed cells in the brain’s small blood vessels that prevent harmful substances from entering the brain). 

This finding opened a whole new chapter of medical research, especially given the dramatic increase in recent years of diseases of the brain caused by age-related cognition decline, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. (By ‘cognition’ it meant all the brain activities related to thinking, knowing, remembering, judging, and problem-solving.) 

Psychologists and neurologists observed such patients and conducted cognitive performance testing after the patients drank flavanol-rich cocoa. Their findings were astonishing. They found that such cocoa drink significantly increased cerebral blood flow, one to two hours after its consumption and that such effect was ‘dose-dependent’ (meaning that you need to drink sufficient cocoa to cause an effect – as we explained about 1 gram of flavanols a day, or about 20 average sized cocoa beans). 

And guess what? They determined that the daily consumption of this flavanol-rich cocoa caused a whole range of benefits, ranging from increases in general cognition, attention, processing speed, and working memory. It is suggested that the flavanols cause the repair of the nerve injuries caused by these neurodegenerative diseases by normalizing defective ‘signaling pathways’. It is the same mechanism that we have explored in earlier columns concerning how phytochemicals (like those in turmeric, for example) can return to normal ‘signaling pathways’ that had been damaged by the initiation of cancer. In addition, in memory-related areas of the brain, flavanols activate the growth of new nerve cells, thereby reversing the disease process. 

Finally, just as in older populations, ongoing research found that young people can also benefit from drinking flavanol-rich cocoa at the concentration METI recommends. Researchers noted that 2 hours after consuming the cocoa drink, they observed ‘improved memory performance’ in situations of ‘high level of cognitive demand’. Translated in a common language: when you prepare for exams and sit for the exams: drink your high-flavanol cocoa throughout the day! In summary: Both cardiovascular and neuro-degenerative diseases ravage the health of a large number of people in our country, and yet they are largely preventable. 

The focus should be on encouraging healthy lifestyle choices: following the WFPB diet AND drinking flavanol-rich cocoa! If you or any of your loved ones suffer from these diseases like Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, we encourage you to contact METI. As always, we invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) and attend our weekly Health seminar and cooking demonstration that will help you to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet. You can call us at 30550.