4 Benefits of Cacao

Join me today as we talk about the benefits of Cacao or dark chocolate. Cacao has many different health benefits, aside from just being a fun treat. Enjoy the show. If you want more, sign up for my newsletter at: www.drsamberne.com. SUMMARY KEYWORDS cacao, dark chocolate, cacao chocolate, support, stem cells, talk, microbiome, nutrients, gut, blood vessels, higher, type, gut health, health, studies, regenerative abilities, research, angiogenesis, phytochemicals, cardiovascular health Hello, everyone, it’s Dr. Sam, I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting-edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me. If you have questions, you can send them to [email protected]. Now to the latest EyeClarity episode. Hey everybody, it's Dr. Sam, I want to welcome you to another EyeClarity podcast. So today I wanted to talk about cacao. Another way to say cacao is dark chocolate, but it's a special kind of dark chocolate. And cacao is one of those magical ingredients, nutrients, phytochemicals, that does so many positive things for the body. And I've been using a cow a long time researching it, traveling to different areas of the world, to learn about the cacao bean and meeting the farmers. And in looking at, well, what they tell me and then also what I look in the in the literature, the research, and in my personal experience, is that, you know, we think dark chocolate is bad for us. You know, we think of it as a guilty pleasure. But if you're getting a high quality, cacao chocolate, and I'd like to do 80% or higher, it is packed with nutrients, it can improve your immune health. And it's a very positive super nutrient that can really support your health and wellness. So a couple of things that this type of dark chocolate does is it actually supports cardiovascular health. Cacao has something in it called flavonols, which is a potent antioxidant. And it can lower your risk of cardiovascular disease. Cacao also is helpful for supporting specific kinds of bacteria, good bacteria that we find in the gut. So much is talked about with the microbiome, the healthy bacteria in our gut health. And for many people. gut health is a challenge. And I've talked about in many podcasts, written blogs, that if you have inflammation in your gut, you're going to have a higher risk of eye disease, brain disease. And it's it's also affecting your immune health. So when you have the 80% Cow, this is supporting the microbiome in the gut. Number three, this type of dark chocolate can actually reduce your anxiety and stress. There have been studies done that show that participants in these studies when they receive this type of cacao 74% or higher in terms of percentage of cacao, and they eat it every day after two weeks, they found that the stress markers of cortisol and adrenaline had substantially decreased in their urine. This type of dark chocolate also activates healthy blood vessel health. So when we eat this type of cacao it's supporting what we call anti angiogenic genic effects. So I talk about any angiogenesis in terms of macular degeneration, wet macular degeneration, high blood pressure retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, all of these things begin to weaken the blood vessels in the retina and we call this angiogenesis. So what this dark chocolate does is it reduces that tendency For us to produce those fragile blood vessels which can lead to things like edema and bleeding and 05:09 loss of sight. And another part of the cacao conversation is that cacao helps provide DNA projection, I'm sorry, protection,