Banana Bread Recipes

Want a healthy snack that is sweet, so children like it, and that you can store in your freezer for months? Try Banana Bread!

This quick bread packs a healthy potassium punch, not to mention other minerals, vitamins, protein and fiber, and is easy to make. Just a handful of simple items to mix together and you can bake a loaf fresh for the week or bake more loaves and freeze for stocks.

Check out these recipes…

This one from Wikipedia uses canola oil instead of butter or shortening for healthier Banana Bread.

Ingredients:

· 1 cup white flour

· 1/2 cup wheat flour

· 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

· 1/4 tsp. baking soda

· 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

· 1/8 tsp. salt

· 1 egg

· 1 cup mashed banana (3 medium)

· 2/3 cup sugar

· 1/4 cup canola oil

· 1 tsp. lemon zest (optional)

· 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Instructions:

· Grease a bread loaf pan and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and make a well in the center.

· In a separate bowl combine the egg, bananas, sugar, oil, and lemon zest.

· Add egg mixture all at once to dry mixture. Stir just till moist. Fold in nuts, if desired.

· Spoon batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350F (175C) for 50 to 55 minutes (or convection bake at 330F (165C) for 40 minutes). Bread is done when a knife or toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.

· Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

· Optional: You can also sprinkle brown sugar and/or chopped pecans on top of the bread before cooking, for added tastiness.

Other variants use chocolate chip, raisins, or substitute nutmeg or ginger for cinnamon. Don’t forget to preheat oven before starting to combine the ingredients.

Following is another Banana Bread recipe from allrecipes.com submitted by Shelley Albeluhn. She uses all purpose flour and butter, which is creamed with brown sugar before stirs in the egg and mashed bananas.

· 2 cups all-purpose flour

· 1 teaspoon baking soda

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 cup butter

· 3/4 cup brown sugar

· 2 eggs, beaten

· 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Another one is from lowfatcooking.about.com, using whole wheat and canola oil for healthier Banana Bread and vanilla extract for flavor.

· 1 cup whole wheat four

· 1 cup all-purpose flour

· 3/4 tsp baking soda

· 1/4 tsp salt

· 1/2 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar

· 1/4 cup canola oil

· 1 large egg, lightly beaten

· 1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

· 1 tsp vanilla extract

· 3 medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed

Still another recipe is from ehow.com. Rye flour is added to all-purpose unbleached flour to stop wrinkle top; and lemon juice is mixed into mashed bananas, while orange juice is combined with margarine, egg yolk and milk before all are mixed together. A few dashes of cinnamon added after baking flavored the Banana Bread.

· 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose unbleached flour

· 1/4 cup of rye flour

· 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

· 1/4 teaspoon of salt

· 1/2 teaspoon of powdered ginger

· 1 teaspoon of lemon juice

· 1/3 cup of evaporated skim milk

· 3 tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate

· 1 cup (2 bananas) of ripe bananas mashed

· 2 egg yolks

· 1/3 margarine

· A few sprinkles of cinnamon

Next is a low-fat whole wheat and delicious Banana Bread from everydayfoodstorage.blogspot.com. This one uses whole wheat, butter or margarine and applesauce.

· 4 T margarine (or butter), softened

· ¼ C applesauce

· 2 eggs (2 T. Dehydrated Eggs +1/4 C. Water)

· 2 T skim milk or water

· ¾ C packed light brown sugar

· 1 C mashed banana (2-3 medium bananas)

· 1 ¾ C Whole Wheat Flour

· 2 t baking powder

· ½ t baking soda

· ¼ t salt (optional)

· ¼ C coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

You can try all, choose some you like more, or design your own Banana Bread recipe based on those above.

Banana Bread

Banana bread is a type of bread that uses bananas in its ingredient and so gets its flavor. It can be a quick bread, a sweet, cake like-bread which uses baking soda as the leavening agent or traditional style yeast bread.

The banana added in the recipe is the mashed of very ripe, usually yellow, sweet banana. The riper it is the better. It gives not only stronger flavor but also its sweetness so we can reduce the sugar used.

Ingredients

Banana bread recipes usually use spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg or ginger, nuts, like pecans or walnuts, raisins, brown sugar or chocolate chips, or even other carbohydrate such as pumpkin.

For diet purposes, part of the wheat flour is substituted with whole wheat, butter or shortening is replaced with canola oil and sugar reduced. Some recipes replace part of the sugar with applesauce or honey. In vegetarian diet, banana bread recipe usually substitutes egg with soy yogurt, tofu or, more simply, additional banana.

Aside from being healthier, the whole wheat gives banana bread a pleasingly coarser texture as well as a subtle nutty flavor. Whole wheat also keeps feeling full. Replacing sugar with honey or applesauce gives banana bread better flavor.

Nutrients

Banana contains Vitamin C, potassium and dietary fiber. Vitamin C helps the body defend and heal against infections, and proves valuable in the synthesis of the connective tissue, absorption of iron and formation of blood; potassium is essential for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function, helps ease body stiffness by encouraging acids to leave joints, and helps to ease anxiety, irritability, and stress; while fiber helps prevent heart disease, normalize movement through the digestive tract and ease constipation.

Banana also contains other minerals, such as magnesium, phosphor, calcium and manganese, other vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin B6 and folate, protein and three natural sugars, sucrose, fructose and glucose. These nutrients enrich the bread and contribute to its healthy snack attribute, especially when it is made with whole wheat, low sugar and low unsaturated fat.

Serving and Storing

The good thing about banana bread is it tastes good whether it is fresh from the oven, being served the next day or after frozen. So you may bake a loaf fresh for the week, and then slice as you go; bake several loaves and freeze, and then pulling them out as needed (muffins and quick breads can be frozen for up to three months) or slice loaves and freeze servings individually (wrap each in cellophane, then in a re-sealable plastic bag). Kids can grab one from the freezer in the morning for a snack if they are going straight from school to an after-school activity.

Making

As mentioned earlier, banana bread can be made in the form of quick bread using baking soda as leavening agent or traditional bread with yeast. Traditional bread needs more efforts since it undergoes fermentation and kneading, while quick bread is easier to make: just a handful of simple items to mix together.

Tips to Improve Homemade Bread

Main Process

What is really happening behind a loaf of banana bread? The main process occurring in bread making is fermentation. It happens when active yeast is mixed into dough with warm liquid, and given all the basic life support it needs - food, moisture and warmth. Feeding on the sugar in the mix or on the starch in the flour, immediately the yeast multiplies. As it does carbon dioxide and alcohol are produced, and while the alcohol evaporates, the carbon dioxide trapped in the dough pushes the dough upwards and outwards makes the bread rise. When bread is finally baked, the heat kills off the yeast, stops fermentation and production of gas and the starch in the flour maintains the bread’s risen structure and airy texture.

Tips in Bread Making

When you decide to make your own banana bread, consider these:

1. The Yeast

In bread making it is important to remember that yeast needs its life support system to work. Without optimum warmth, food and moisture it will not grow and the bread will not rise. Extreme temperature will damage the yeast - very cold will make it inactive and very hot will destroy it. The best temperature for yeast to reproduce is 25-28°C in a moist environment.

2. Water

Water is the key to making good dough. As a rule, 300ml of water per 500g of flour will make firm dough with a smooth, even texture. Using 350ml per 500g flour will make much softer and easier to stretch dough, better for flatter bread. So that difference of 50ml of water, barely four tablespoons, will make the difference between dense, firm dough and stretchy, floppy dough.

3. Flour

The dough should have an elastic texture to stretch effectively, and it depends on the flour. Using the wrong flour will only make your banana bread hard and crusty. Strong bread flours contain high levels of gluten which is essential to make elastic dough. Bread flour contains more protein than all purpose flour, result in stronger, fluffier and larger loaves. It is also healthier for you, especially if you use freshly ground flour.

4. Measuring and Mixing

Do not measure your flour. Your bread will turn out better if you go by the look and feel of the dough.

Be sure to add the ingredients in the right order. Moisture of any kind activates the yeast, thus if the yeast mixes with the liquids before the bread has even started cooking it’s going to make a bad tasting loaf. You can either pour all your liquids into the bowl first, then the solids, and then the yeast, or do it in reverse order.

Adding spelt flour to the whole wheat flour mixture will give the bread a lighter texture, while adding 2 teaspoons of rye flour for every cup of flour you use will stop the bread from having a wrinkled top and make it look better.

5. The Dough

The softer the dough, the softer and lighter the banana bread.

After the dough cleans the bowl and forms on one side, do not add any more flour. Using flour to stop the dough from sticking may make a leaden, heavy loaf. Flour takes time to fully absorb moisture, so leaving the dough for ten to 15 minutes after combining it will help reduce the stickiness.

6. Refrigerating

Once bread dough has been mixed and kneaded it can be refrigerated for up to five days, providing there are no perishable ingredients in the mixture. If there are, it can be stored in the freezer for up to three months, but once thawed should not be kept at room temperature for more than two hours. Dough left to rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight, where the chill merely slows rather than halts the yeast, will result in a loaf with a crumb that stays moist longer. Most recipes will stand being covered and refrigerated immediately after mixing, before kneading, and left for up to eight hours.

7. Baking

Aside from the oven you can also rolling your dough thinly on a floured surface and flip it onto a hot heavy-based frying pan.

If your banana bread comes out a bit pale and soft on the base, use an oven stone to increase the heat at the bottom. You can use a heavy terracotta tile, put in before the oven is switched on, and shovel the dough directly onto that.

Making Your Own Banana Bread? – Why Not?

Some Basic Techniques in Bread Making

Your Own Making Banana Bread is actually quite easy to get, once you learn some basic techniques, and nothing smells as wonderful as your own baking bread.

1. Proofing the Yeast

Make sure the yeast is fresh. Active dry yeast, sold in individual packets, is the easiest type to use. Proofing the yeast to ensure that it is fresh and active by sprinkle it over the liquid, that has been measured and heated to the correct temperature and let this sit for a few minutes. When the yeast mixture rises and starts bubbling, proceed with the rest of the recipe.

Cake yeast, if you can find it, really makes a wonderful loaf of bread. This form of yeast is fresh, stored in the refrigerator, and is very perishable. You can also make it yourself by adding, in a clean jar, 4tsp whole meal flour and 4tsp water each day for three days. The next days remove four-fifths of the mixture each day and replace with a half-and-half mixture of flour and water until the mixture bubbles and smells pleasantly sour. Then add 150g of this mixture to every 500g flour in the recipe together with the yeast to help the loaf stay moist and give the crumb more flavor.

Sometimes the yeast is stirred into the flour, instead of being proofed separately. The only change in this type of recipe is the water should be warmer.

2. Mixing

Mix part of the flour in a bowl with any other dry ingredients or flavorings. Make a depression, or well, in the center of the flour, and add the dissolved yeast and other liquids, including the banana in banana bread recipe. Beat well to combine.

Add another part of the flour gradually and mix until the dough forms a good ball. At this point, dump the dough out of the bowl onto the floured surface and let it sit for ten minutes. Then begin kneading the dough.

3. Kneading

To knead, turn the dough over several times, gathering any stray particles. Fold the dough inward in half, and push away with the heels of the hands. Turn the dough one quarter turn, and repeat this process until the dough is smooth, elastic, springy, and no longer sticky. This will take from 5 to 10 minutes. Dough made with bread flour typically require more kneading than those made with all purpose flours.

4. Let Rising

Grease a large mixing bowl lightly with shortening. Place the smooth, kneaded dough into the bowl, turning it over so the top is greased as well. This step makes sure the dough doesn't dry out as it rises. Cover with a clean cloth and place in a warm spot. An electric oven with the light turned on, or a gas oven with the pilot light are perfect places for rising.

Let the dough rises until double for about an hour. It will increase in size, and when you press your fingers into the top, the indentation remains when you remove your fingers. Punch down the dough, and turn it onto a floured surface. Cover and let rise again until double in size for 30 to 45 minutes. This second rising takes less time, because there is more yeast in the dough. Divide into two equal parts and shape into loaves, for banana bread, or on a cookie sheet for free form loaves, or shape according to the recipe for sweet breads.

Batter bread starts with wet dough or batter. This type of dough isn't kneaded, but stirred vigorously for a longer period of time to develop the gluten. The dough is stirred down after rising, instead of punching down, and spooned into loaf pans to rise and bake.

5. Baking

Place in loaf pans and bake the bread in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. The bread should rise a bit in the oven too - this is called 'oven spring'. Bake according to the recipe until golden brown. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when you tap it with your fingers. Remove from the pans and let cool on a wire rack. See, it is easy to make your own banana bread.

From Chewed Wheat to Banana Bread – A Brief History of Bread

Banana bread has been included in many family’s favorite recipes. But, actually how was the idea of making bread came into human mind? Here’s a brief history.

Bread formed the main part of the average person’s diet for centuries. It is one of the oldest prepared foods, dating back to the Neolithic era.

Today, bread is almost always made of wheat but in the past rye, barley, oats, rice and maize (often called Indian corn until recently) were used or mixed. As the standard of living rose, the use of cereals other than wheat declined.

Grown in Mesopotamia and Egypt, wheat was likely first merely chewed. Later it was discovered that it could be pulverized and made into a paste. The first breads produced were not anything close to the banana breads we know now; they were cooked versions of a grain-paste, made from ground cereal grains and water. Set over a fire, the paste hardened into flat breads that kept for several days. Descendants of these early breads are still commonly made from various grains worldwide, with the Mexican tortilla, Indian chapati, Chinese poa ping, Scots oatcake, North American johnnycake, and Ethiopian injera all being examples.

It did not take much of a leap to discover leavened (raised) bread when yeast was accidentally introduced to the paste. It is commonly believed to have occurred in Egypt. The first development occurred by the beginning of Dynastic Egypt and consisted of a grain that could be satisfactorily threshed without being first toasted. Discovery of a wheat variety containing sufficient gluten-forming protein was the second development required for raised bread, which is the basic of banana bread.

The Greeks picked up the technology for making bread from the Egyptians; from Greece the practice spread over Europe. Bread and wheat were especially important in Rome where it was thought more vital than meat. The Roman welfare state was based on the distribution of grain to people living in Rome. Later the government even baked the bread.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder is considered to be the father of sliced bread. In 1912 Rohwedder started work on inventing a machine that sliced bread, but bakeries were reluctant to use it since they were concerned the sliced bread would go stale. It wasn't until 1928, when Rohwedder invented a machine that both sliced and wrapped the bread, that sliced bread caught on. A bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri was the first to use this machine to produce sliced bread.

For generations, white bread was considered the preferred bread of the rich while the poor ate dark bread. However, the connotations reversed in the 20th century with dark bread becoming preferred as having superior nutritional value while white bread became associated with lower class ignorance of nutrition. Luckily, banana breads can go both ways.

Today, even with the competition of a growing variety of foods, bread remains important to our diet and our psyche. It has a prominent place in at the local market, in our cupboards and even in our language. The word "bread" is commonly used as a slang term for money. It connotes importance as when we say that some aspect of our work is "our bread and butter". In many households bread is still served with every meal.

Recently, domestic bread makers that automate the process of making bread are becoming popular in the home, so it is easier for us to make our super delicious banana bread.

Low-Carbohydrate Diets

The definition of Low-carbohydrate diet from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia is as follow:

Low-carbohydrate diets or low-carb diets are dietary programs that restrict carbohydrate consumption usually for weight control or for the treatment of obesity. Foods high in digestible carbohydrates (e.g. breads, pasta) are limited or replaced with foods containing a higher percentage of proteins and fats (e.g. meats, soy products) and often other foods low in carbohydrates (e.g. green leafy vegetables).

Low-carbohydrate diet is also called low glycemic diet. The recommendation for carbohydrate consumption is varied from less then 20 percent to 40 percent of the daily caloric intake, while the common carbohydrate consumption is 50-65% of the daily caloric intake. The restriction is also varied. Some diets limit the amount of overall carbohydrate, while others focus on foods high in starch and sugars. Still others focus on how glycemic the diet is. Some diets implement “No White Foods” regimens, that simply eliminating sugars, white flour, white rice, and potatoes. Some diets considered as low-carbohydrate diets are, among others:

The Ketogenic Diet
It is a diet to treat some medical conditions, such as epilepsy in children. Aside from low in carbohydrate, this diet is high in fat and contains adequate protein. It is stricter than most low-carbohydrate diets, and must be followed under close medical supervision.

Atkins Diet
Atkins Diet is a well-known low-carbohydrate diet created by Dr. Robert Atkins. The diet is based on the theory that overweight people eat too many carbohydrates. Our bodies burn both fat and carbohydrates for energy, but carbs are used first. By drastically reducing carbs and eating more protein and fat, our bodies naturally lose weight by burning stored body fat more efficiently. The induction phase of this diet is a rigid low-carbohydrate one, although some sources consider it is less restrictive than Ketogenic Diet.

South Beach Diet
As Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet restricts carbohydrates. Although good carbohydrates are allowed, South Beach dieters must say goodbye to potatoes, fruit, bread, cereal, rice, pasta, beets, carrots, and corn for the first two weeks. After that, most of these foods remain strongly discouraged. It also has a more severe induction phase, followed by a long-term eating plan.

There are two main differences, between South Beach Diet and Atkins Diet, i.e.:

• Fats: The South Beach Diet bans unhealthy fats but strongly promotes healthy ones.
• Carbs: The South Beach Diet doesn't count grams of carbs, instead it looks at how much sugar is in a carb. Low-sugar carbs - those with a low glycemic index (they don't cause the blood sugar levels to rise and fall as quickly) - are good. The Atkins diet seeks to change a person from a sugar-burning machine into a fat-burning machine.

However, despite the differences, both trade marked diets are low-carbohydrate diets.

Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet
This is a low-carbohydrate diet which based on the theory that many overweight people are "carbohydrate addicts." It consists of daily consumption of two meals of meat/fish/cheese and vegetable combo and a reward meal, which can be anything in any quantity that is nourishing and well balanced and must be consumed within an hour. However, many nutritionists or specialists with a medical background question the theory.

What Are Carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates are any of a group of organic compounds that includes sugars, fiber, starches, celluloses, and gums and serves as a major energy source in the diet of animals. They are found in a wide array of foods—bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, soft drinks, corn, and cherry pie. These compounds are produced by photosynthetic plants and contain only carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, usually in the ratio 1:2:1, which unite into a simple union of sugar molecule, as the basic building block of every carbohydrate. Starches and fibers are essentially chains of sugar molecules. Some contain hundreds of sugars. Some chains are straight, others branch wildly.

Carbohydrates Categorizations

According to the Length of Their Molecule Chains:

• Simple carbohydrates, which have no more than two molecule chains, include sugars such as fruit sugar (fructose), corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose), and table sugar (sucrose).
• Complex carbohydrates include everything made of three or more linked sugars.

Complex carbohydrates were thought to be the healthiest to eat, while simple carbohydrates weren't so great. It turns out that the picture is more complicated than that.

The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much the same way—it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to cross into the bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source.

Dividing carbohydrates into simple and complex makes sense on a chemical level. But it doesn't do much to explain what happens to different kinds of carbohydrates inside the body. A new system, called the glycemic index, aims to classify carbohydrates based on how quickly and how high they boost blood sugar compared to pure glucose.

According to the Glycemic Index:

• Carbohydrates with a high glycemic index, like in white bread, causing rapid spikes in blood sugar. Foods with a score of 70 or higher are defined as having a high glycemic index
• Carbohydrates with a low glycemic index, like in whole oats, are digested more slowly, causing a lower and gentler change in blood sugar. The score is 55 or below.

Fiber

Fiber is another kind of carbohydrate. It can't be broken down into sugar molecules, and so it passes through the body undigested. Fiber comes in two varieties:

• Soluble fiber dissolves in water. It binds to fatty substances in the intestines and carries them out as a waste, thus lowering low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or bad cholesterol). It also helps regulate the body's use of sugars, helping to keep hunger and blood sugar in check
• Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water. It helps push food through the intestinal tract, promoting regularity and helping prevent constipation.

Adults need at least 20 to 30 grams of fiber per day for good health. But most Americans get only about 15 grams a day.

Enjoying Chocolate Fountain on a Diet?

Chocolate Diets

Yes, there are Chocolate Diets. But, is it possible to enjoy chocolate fountain while we are on the diets? Let's find out.

Chocolate Diets are the diets that include chocolates in the menu. There are two ideas behind these diets. The first idea is that strong restriction is contra-productive. Eliminating chocolate completely from the diet is unrealistic and potentially detrimental. When chocolate is regarded as a food to strictly avoid during a diet this creates an increased desire for chocolate. When dieters eventually give in to their cravings they may overindulge which leads to guilt and this often results in abandoning the diet completely. This is the basic idea of the Pasta-Popcorn-Chocolate Diet devised by Lenny Neimark, in which dieters are not only allowed to eat chocolate, but also popcorn and pasta. Another chocolate diet also uses this idea to enable dieters to break their addiction to chocolate and learn how to include chocolate in the daily diet without compromising weight loss.

The second idea is that chocolate has appetite-suppressant properties. It is used to stimulate the metabolism and kick start the body’s fat burning mechanism. This idea is used in a chocolate diet that emphasizes eating chocolate and cocoa powder in pills. This diet replaces in-between meal snacking with chocolate-flavoured liquids and powders mixed with milk or water to make a healthy hunger suppressant and add a chocolate-based pill in the diet.

Chocolate diets are basically calorie-restrictive diets, low fat diet plans with small amounts of chocolate allowed daily; some accompanied with exercise recommendation. Dieters will probably lose weight on these plans due to the low calorie intakes combined with exercises.

The meal plans provide very low calories, 1000 -1250 calories per day mostly consist of various low calorie fruits, vegetables, shredded wheat, some with one small serve each of pasta and popcorn. The drinks allowed are low-fat skim milk, water (mineral or carbonated) and at some herbal tea.

How about the chocolate? Well, only a small piece (about an ounce) of chocolate a day is allowed. Chocolate fountain? Why not? As long as it is less than an ounce a day.

While they don’t ban chocolate there are plenty of other foods that are restricted on these diets including alcohol, dairy products (other than low-fat skim milk), oily fruits like avocado, red meat and nuts and seeds as well as the usual list of ‘bad’ foods like fried food and foods high in sugar. It’s a pretty restrictive list of forbidden foods and includes some healthy stuff such as nuts and seeds that have far more nutritional value than chocolate and popcorn.

However chocolate diets are generally classified as fad diets, i.e. diets which are considered to be based on irrational believes and supported by pseudo-scientific claims. Fad diets claim to be scientific but do not follow the scientific method in establishing their validity.

Well, if you are a chocoholic and worried about getting overweight, maybe this is an inspiration. Enjoy your chocolate fountain thinly covering over your fresh strawberry, or apple, or any low calorie fruit of your choice.

Super Healthy Nutrients in Chocolate

Chocolate comes from cocoa fruit. It is actually one of the most healthy fruits commonly eaten by man! Here are some cocoa’s nutrients that give your health positive effects as I excerpt from an article in www.astrologyzine.com.

Antioxidants

Raw cocoa has the highest antioxidant value of all the natural foods in the world! Cornell University food scientists discovered that cocoa powder has nearly twice the antioxidants of red wine, and up to three times the antioxidants found in green tea. The ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity) score per 100 grams of unprocessed raw cacao is 28,000, dark chocolate is 13,120, milk chocolate is 6,740, compared to 18,500 for acai berries, 1,540 for strawberries, and only 1,260 for raw spinach.

The antioxidants in fresh cocoa beans are Flavanols. They are type of bioflavonoid antioxidants; the strong antioxidants that help maintain healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Flavanols in cocoa, especially the Epicatechins, prevent fatty substances in the bloodstream from oxidizing and then clogging the arteries. They help make blood platelets less likely to stick together and cause blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes.

Cocoa beans contain 10,000 milligrams of Flavanol per 100 grams(10 %), processed cocoa powder (defatted, roasted and treated with potassium carbonate) and chocolate candy range in Flavanol content from 500 milligrams in normal chocolate bars, to 5,000 milligrams per 100 grams in Cocoapro cocoa powder from the Mars Corporation.

Recent research has demonstrated that the antioxidants found in cacao beans are highly stable and easily available to the human metabolism. Of all known foods, cacao is also the only food which does not lose its ORAC over significant periods of time. So cocoa is the most potent source of antioxidants and also a source of the most usable antioxidants found in natural food.
Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals and keep them from damaging the DNA and mitochondria of the body's cells, which is a major cause of many degenerative diseases, cancer tumors, heart disease, and premature aging.

Researchers are excited by the potential of Flavanols to ward off vascular disease, which can cause hypertension (high blood pressure), heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and even dementia. Vascular diseases, including Erectile Dysfunction (ED) which is common in men over age 40, are connected to the inability of an artery to make Nitric Oxide (NO). It is a critical component in healthy blood flow and blood pressure control. It appears that flavanols help reverse that problem. Thus eating healthy chocolate might help men over 40 to enjoy a more active sex life without having to rely on expensive drugs.

Studies have indicated that consuming dark chocolate produced an increased sensitivity to Insulin (which indicates a protective effect against diabetes).

Minerals and Vitamins

Cocoa also appears to have anti-aging and anti-inflammatory properties. It is a good source of the minerals Magnesium, Sulphur, Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Copper, Potassium, and Manganese; plus some of the B Vitamins, which are associated with brain health.

Research by Dr. Bernard Jensen indicates that the heart muscle requires Magnesium and Potassium more than any other minerals. In the heart muscle Magnesium is concentrated eighteen times greater than in the bloodstream. The overall strength and vigor of the heart muscle and its ability to pump effectively is enhanced by the presence of Magnesium. This mineral also decreases blood coagulation and thus can lower blood pressure. Magnesium also balances brain chemistry, and helps build strong bones. Eighty percent of Americans are deficient in Magnesium, which is linked to hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, joint problems, and PMT. Cocoa beans and organic dark chocolate are the #1 best food sources of Magnesium.

Cocoa has a high content of Sulfur. It helps build strong nails and hair, promotes healthy and beautiful skin, helps detoxify the liver, and supports healthy functioning of the pancreas.

Amino Acids

Cocoa also contains the amino acid Tryptophan which makes the neurotransmitter known as Serotonin, Dopamine and Phenylethylamine (PEA). These neurotransmitters help alleviate depression and are associated with feelings of well-being. Cocoa also contains Anandamide which stimulates blissful feelings, and Monoamine Oxidase (MAO)-Inhibitors, which help improve our mood by allowing Serotonin and Dopamine to remain unbroken in the bloodstream longer.

PEA helps promote mental alertness and the ability to concentrate. It can be of help to students taking tests, and to senior citizens who want to retain the mental capacity of a younger person and postpone the onset of dementia.

Natural organic chocolate also contains other active substances, such as Arginine (nature's aphrodisiac), Epicatechins (antioxidants), Histamine, Tyramine, Salsolinol.