Unlike caffeine, which is highly water-soluble, theobromine is only slightly water-soluble and is more fat soluble, and thus peaks more slowly in the blood. While caffeine peaks after only 30 minutes, theobromine requires 2–3 hours to peak.[27]
The primary mechanism of action for theobromine inside the body is inhibition of adenosine receptors.[5] Its effect as a phosphodiesterase inhibitor[28] is thought to be small.[5]
and I found this really interesting - learn something new every day, I never knew what it was the compound that was in chocolate that was toxic to dogs:
Theobromine is the reason chocolate is poisonous to dogs. Dogs and other animals that metabolizetheobromine (found in chocolate) more slowly[33] can succumb to theobromine poisoning from as little as 50 grams (1.8 oz) of milk chocolate for a smaller dog and 400 grams (14 oz), or around nine 44-gram (1.55 oz) small milk chocolate bars, for an average-sized dog.
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I just saw this. Its a good idea. I’ll ask Jed Fahey if he knows of a source.
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I suspect he’ll say eat the rainbow. He did list common plants of each color in my last podcast with him.
How to “eat the rainbow” and more with Dr Jed Fahey
Leonard
#104
Seem to be a lot of potential benefits from Cacao in general and theobromine especially!
“Recent studies have highlighted the potential of theobromine, which may act as antitumoral, anti-inflammatory or cardiovascular protector molecule without the undesirable side effects described for caffeine. The main mechanisms of action of theobromine are inhibition of phosphodiesterases and blockade of adenosine receptors but, interestingly, it exhibits other important adenosine receptor-independent effects as the reduction of cellular oxidative stress or regulation of gene expression. In this sense, theobromine could be considered a safe and natural alternative in the treatment of some human diseases and may serve as lead compound for the development of novel drugs”
Very unfortunate that the Theobroma-tree sucks all the lead and cadmium out from the soil where it’s growing.
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A counter opinion on Chocolate / Cocoa, from Karl Pfleger (ex Google AI Engineer, Ex-Stanford PHD in computer science / AI, now retired and spending all his time on “longevity”. He’s the leading angel investor in Longevity Biotech Startups in the SF Bay area), his website is: https://agingbiotech.info/
From: ### Karl Pfleger
Most studies showing benefits from chocolate are relative to a population of people who don’t eat enough vegetables & fruits and don’t get enough beneficial chemicals in their diets in the first place. Chocolate definitely has some beneficial chemicals, but there’s no epidemiological studies I’m aware of studying a very healthy WFPB low-calorie diet and showing benefit of adding chocolate to such a diet relative to a base of avoiding it.
The most healthful diets are low-fat, low-protein, high complex carb CRON or WFPB vegan diets. Ornish & Esselstyn’s diets explicitly try to minimize fat & especially saturated fat to avoid heart/cardiovascular diseases & of all the WFPB sources of fat in a diet, coconut & chocolate have by far the highest concentration of saturated fat as a % of overall fat (most of the fat content is saturated). As a result, I am very wary of chocolate for long, healthy life. I had been eating a square or 2 per day before digging into the science around the Ornish & Esselstyn diets and now I’ve given up the chocolate entirely. For those eating healthy diets, I think the phytochemicals in whole plant foods are sufficient that the chocolate provides negligible additional benefit, likely less in magnitude than the saturated fat detriment.
Karl
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I agree with the conclusion on chocolate. Cacao is just a plant with several good chemicals. (And maybe heavy metals).
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Yeah but, I really really like dark chocolate and I plan to keep eating it.
I hope Karl Pfleger lives as long as I have. 
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Leonard
#108
Raw cacao powder usually is between 10 and 22 % fat, and is, a part from the phytochemicals, also a good source of protein, fibers, vitamin and minerals.
If there was a trusted brand that tested low for heavy metals I would definitely keep incorporating it in my diet.
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A number of you reference polyphenols concentrations (amounts per serving) in cocoa. So how can I find the phenol/polyphenol amount per serving? — I don’t see anything on the package of my Ghirardelli unsweetened baking cocoa. I have roughly 3-4 teaspoons of this per day, apparently just on the belief that it could lower LDL and blood pressure, and help ancillaries with staving off atherosclerosis.
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scta123
#110
Cocoa normally contains around 800mg of polyphenols 100g.
COSMOS study was done with 500mg daily cocoa flavonols (polyphenols).
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Sorry: I’d need 500g (0.5kg) of cocoa per day to replicate this study? — I better get started boiling water.
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scta123
#112
There are special cocoas that contain more flavonols, four up to seven times more flavonols.
Ps. You would need “just” around 50 grams 
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lin
#113
Beyond the health benefits, cocoa’s been a huge boon for cutting back on my coffee habit. Used to drink 3+ cups of coffee per day which would give me some jitters/restlessness. Now I just drink 1 cup per day with a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder. Satiates my coffee craving while providing a much cleaner boost in energy.
Apparently cocoa and coffee contain similar xanthines, and I suspect the theobromine in cocoa makes me feel even better than the caffeine in coffee. I can take cocoa later in the day without impacting sleep, and use it as a functional alternative to green tea powder. IMO cocoa powder tastes better, fulfills the coffee craving, gives a great sense of energy, and is much cheaper.
If you are a coffee junkie, I can’t recommend trying cocoa powder enough, it could make you feel even better without the side effects as it did for me. I use the “Organic, Fair Trade” cocoa powder from Costco’s baking aisle.
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Leonard
#114
You should definitely find “raw” cacao. The roasting and dutchifying (alcalizing) destroys most of the phytochemicals.
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The great majority of the posts in this thread for months have focused on the heavy metal content of various chocolates and cocoa products, seemingly not noticing until the last two days the fact that you can’t even come close to the dose of cocoa flavanols used in the trial by consuming any regular chocolate or cocoa product. Meanwhile, the cocoa extract used in the trial has negligible heavy metals.
Chocolate and cocoa products are for pleasure; if you want the health benefits, use the extract.
Even that overstates the potential here. There are other studies showing that flavanol supplements have less biological effect in people eating higher-polyphenol diets (which is probably a lot of people here). And:
In subgroup analyses (Supplementary Figure 3), there was an apparent differential effect by ever smoking 100 or more cigarettes (*P-*interaction = 0.02); among ever-smokers the cocoa extract intervention reduced total CVD events, whereas among never-smokers there was no significant effect.
This makes sense, since cigarette smoke is a powerful oxidant and inhibitor of endothelial function.
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xtina
#116
I realize that this is an old post , but it was in the news feed. My comment is that I was a big fan of cocoa powder until I found out about the high levels of lead and cadmium content in it, even the organic ! The cadmium comes mainly from the soil the beans are grown in and the lead comes mainly from the processing, from what I understand. Too bad.
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How does it taste?
My concern would be that it would taste like raw coffee beans… i.e. inedible.
lin
#118
I can attest that raw (non-alkalized) cocoa powder tastes great, makes for a smoother, chocolatey taste that goes very well with coffee! I have tried raw cocoa beans, those are indeed nasty
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lin
#119
It is indeed a tradeoff, for what it’s worth, tree nuts also concentrate heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury, lead, yet as a whole have favorable effects on health/mortality.
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Leonard
#120
Lin is right. Raw cacao powder is not that different from dutchyfied. The color is light brown instead of brown-red. And if it’s high quality cacao, it’s really delicious. Works in smoothies, hot cocoa and baking… even if it won’t be as raw after heating. Nu kids like the flavor , but have a slight preference for the Dutch version.
Going by the Amazon reviews have served me well, when choosing brand. Once bought from a Swedish shop what I think must have been counterfeit criollo cacao… Apparently there is a lot of trixters in the food business.
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