Cocoa bean is the dried and fermented fatty seed of Theobroma cocoa beans and is considered a super food due to the high density of essential nutrients, very few side effects and proven nutritional facts. West African countries are the largest Cocoa beans producers with Ivory Coast leading production. Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon follow in the list.

Raw cocoa beans have some nutritional facts that make them preferred processed cocoa beans. On the economic side, cocoa beans producers get a good pay for their best cocoa beans since it is only limited to some regions.

Described below are the nutrition facts of cocoa beans:

Mineral Content

Cocoa beans contain the highest natural source of magnesium, chromium, iron, zinc, copper and manganese, all of which are the most deficient minerals in the world.

Mood

Cocoa beans contain properties with therapeutic levels that positively affect a person's mood, memory, appetite, and pain perception, feelings of attraction, excitement and euphoria. It also contains high concentrations of arginine, an amino acid that increases sexual desire by increasing blood flow throughout the body.

Antioxidants

It also contains the alkaloid theobromine, which dilates the body's capillaries. This process allows other food eaten with cocoa to be absorbed deeper in the body system more than through any other process.

With more than 1,200 constituents, it contains a far greater amount of antioxidants than all of the world's leading antioxidant-rich foods. The contains 15 times more antioxidants than blueberries, 20 times more than green tea and 30 times more than red wine.

Cardiovascular health

Cocoa beans contain many vitamins and minerals as well as healthy doses of potassium and copper, which support cardiovascular health, and iron, which transports oxygen through the body. Calcium and magnesium found in cocoa beans are necessary in order for all the major organs to function properly

Enhance physical well being

There are many components of cocoa beans including alkaloids, proteins, beta-carotene, leucine, linoleic, lipase, lysine, and theobromine, that all work together to improve physical and mental health.

Conclusion

The Nutritional facts of cocoa make it a super food. Best Cocoa beans contain nutrients that are nutritious to the human body offering multiple health benefits to the consumers, the cocoa bean producers and the farmers.

It is unfortunate that some of these nutrients are reduced or destroyed when they undergo heating process and are combined with milk and sugar to make chocolate. Hence, eating raw, unprocessed cocoa beans offer more health benefits than processed chocolate.