Best source of epicatchin: dark chocolate or cocoa powder?

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

But above study points to even more variation through the production process, like dutching, which appearently decreased the Epicatechin content by a whooping 67% in cocoa powders in the same study.

Oh crap !!! I knew the alkalizing process lost some of the micro nutrients and antioxidants, I didn't realize it was THAT much ....

It's a challenge to find really tasty natural cocoas because producers assume that we're buying it for the taste, and the Dutching process rounds and deepens and mellows the flavor profile while also deepening the chocolatey color, so that's what they make. And natural cocoas are more expensive, but needs must ....

Now I'm depressed. I'll have to go rustle up some chocolate and hope for the best ....

 

[Viala]

Haven't thought about that. But must assume not much different to the catechins in green tea, also usually in hot water.

Thank you for a detailed reply I need to try cocoa powder paste as suggested to see if there will be any difference, if I use my imagination, it will be like a chocolate. Which reminds me that we can also make our own chocolate at home. Anyway I have maybe one teaspoon of cocoa powder daily and that doesn't even make 5g, so definitely much less than you are taking.

Plants like cacao are living beings, and therefore each of them have different levels of Epicatechin in them. Just as humans might have a normal range of 200-900 pg/ml of Vitamin B12 in their serum.

Beautifully explained. I always thought that we can learn a lot from plants, and they are similar to us, in a way.

 

[hapl808]

I didn't know about the dutching process effect on catechin content - quite interesting.

I eat around 50g of chocolate per day. I've taken cocoa powder in the past, but I enjoy a good very high fat low carb dark chocolate much more. I usually wash it down with green tea (there are some lower caffeine versions) so hopefully I'm getting catechins from multiple sources.

 

[katebrownell86]

If you ask me, I'd say dark chocolate, because there are different varieties of it. And moreover, dark chocolate is already the processed item we get. While consuming cocoa is a warning thing, as it is unprocessed and contains fat plus higher amounts of epicatechin, which our body does not need.

 

[daveu]

And therefore again: Epicatechin is found in cocoa solids portion at only 84% of pure cocoa powder, about 45% in cocoa nibs, and 45% in dark chocolate only. The remaining pure cocoa is only the cocoa potion or cocoa butter, not containing any Epicatechin.

Hi @pamojja, thank you for your in-depth replies.

I was interested in your point about epicatechin only being found in the cocoa solids portion of pure ground cacao bean. So I asked the supermarket I got Belbake Cocoa Powder from how much of their product was made up of cocoa butter and this was their reply:

We have been in contact with our supplier who would like to inform you that Cocoa mass is produced from cocoa beans, which are deshelled and broken into cocoa nibs, roasted and ground into a fine cocoa mass. The cocoa powder is obtained by hydraulic pressing of cocoa mass whereby cocoa butter is separated from the cocoa cake, after which the cocoa cake is pulverized into a fine free flowing cocoa powder.

My take on this response is, assuming the supplier is telling the truth, the product is pure ground cocoa solids?

 

[pamojja]

My take on this response is, assuming the supplier is telling the truth, the product is pure ground cocoa solids?

Already answered on page 1 of this thread:

PS: cocoa powder too is not completely free from fat, but usually at 14%, the fat-reduced at about 11%. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_solids Therefore even with cocoa powder the epicatechin containing content goes only to 89% at the max.

Most cocoa butter is extracted, a bid more in fat-reduced, but still remaining at 11% in cocoa solids. One could indeed call that pure cocoa solids.

If you stll don't believe me, take a look at your cocoa packet. It says it contains 20.7% fat, So even much more than usual cocoa powder at 14%, or fat-reduced at 11%