What Causes The "high" From Raw Chocolate

[uuy8778yyi]

I don't reccomend raw chocolate, get the roasted stuff instead

however it decreased anxiety and I felt better

what causes this ?

 

[jyb]

It could be so many things. Magnesium, chocolate protein, saturated fat profile, small caffeine amount,...

 

[uuy8778yyi]

I know

but I don't get the feeling from the regualr roasted stuff

perhaps the raw stuff is so toxic, it's just adrenaline from the detox ?

 

[Noodlz]

Tried some raw chocolate from this company.

http://notyoursugarmamas.com/

Felt an amazing buzz. I've never felt anything similar with normal chocolate. Even my friends agreed it was something special.

However, at $8 a bar, its not gonna become a staple of my diet anytime soon

 

[uuy8778yyi]

yes,

my question is what causes the buzz ? the toxicity ?

it does need to be roasted or brewed after all

 

[mt_dreams]

Aside from the magnesium hit, I'm sure the theobromine has something to do with it.

Raw cocoa is not all that good for you. Likewise the fermenting process could be a problem depending on the technique. I've found that I do best on dutched chocoale, so something in the alkali process lessens the effects of the fermentation process in my case.

Also keep in mind that chocolate has more iron than even liver, so eating a 100g bar of dark chocolate daily could be risky in the long run if you're already high in iron.

 

[jyb]

Also keep in mind that chocolate has more iron than even liver, so eating a 100g bar of dark chocolate daily could be risky in the long run if you're already high in iron.

I'm not sure if its very absorbable at all compared to that of liver.

 

[mt_dreams]

I'm not sure if its very absorbable at all compared to that of liver.

thanks jyb, good to know.
Aside from the caffeine in chocolate, what prevents the iron from being absorbed?

 

[jyb]

I'm not sure if its very absorbable at all compared to that of liver.

thanks jyb, good to know.
Aside from the caffeine in chocolate, what prevents the iron from being absorbed?

Animal versus plant sourced iron. I haven't checked specifically for cocoa though.

Edit: well, I mean for minerals in general. I see one or two quotes when searching the forum for iron and chocolate, one by Mittir suggesting chocolate iron doesn't get absorbed, other questioning whether the iron is that high.

 

[uuy8778yyi]

the answer I now realise , but never got , is

Phenylalanine
Phenethylamine

what does peat say about these ?

 

[TeslaFan]

I don't reccomend raw chocolate, get the roasted stuff instead

however it decreased anxiety and I felt better

what causes this ?

Dopamine is causing this.

Raw cacao contains isoflavones, which strongly suppress COM-T enzyme -- which breaks down catecholamines (*). Hence, your dopamine will go up. That's why you feel "high" i.e., good.

Alkali-processed (Dutched) cacao has much less of those isoflavones.

Downside is that when you suppress COM-T you also suppress clearing of catechol-estrogens -- the most toxic metabolites of estrogen, responsible for growth of estrogen-positive cancers.

Enjoy responsibly.

(*) Research on isoflavones (from soy) suppressing COM-T enzyme: Soy isoflavones decrease the catechol-O-methyltransferase-mediated inactivation of 4-hydroxyestradiol in cultured MCF-7 cells. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[Sobieski]

Dopamine is causing this.

Raw cacao contains isoflavones, which strongly suppress COM-T enzyme -- which breaks down catecholamines (*). Hence, your dopamine will go up. That's why you feel "high" i.e., good.

Alkali-processed (Dutched) cacao has much less of those isoflavones.

Downside is that when you suppress COM-T you also suppress clearing of catechol-estrogens -- the most toxic metabolites of estrogen, responsible for growth of estrogen-positive cancers.

Enjoy responsibly.

(*) Research on isoflavones (from soy) suppressing COM-T enzyme: Soy isoflavones decrease the catechol-O-methyltransferase-mediated inactivation of 4-hydroxyestradiol in cultured MCF-7 cells. - PubMed - NCBI

I couldn't figure out why dark chocolate gives me estrogenic symptoms. Now I know so thank you.

 

[Such_Saturation]

All those 120-year-olds must have been browsing toxinless to buy exclusively dutched cocoa for the past century

 

[churchmouth]

I feel terrible after eating relatively pure 85% dark chocolate bar. I figured the stimulant effect is too strong. But I also seem to break out a lot too after reintroducing it, and my labs typically show high estrogen to begin with. So maybe I buy into this idea..

 

[DaveFoster]

Milk chocolate > dark chocolate for taste, effect, nutrition and price.

 

[Such_Saturation]

Milk chocolate > dark chocolate for taste, effect, nutrition and price.

And number of additives

 

[churchmouth]

Yes I already drink milk anyway!

 

[Peater Piper]

Alkali-processed (Dutched) cacao has much less of those isoflavones.

Interesting. What effect does roasting have? I'll sometimes mix cocoa powder into my coffee. It tastes yummy, but if I do it too often I start to get digestion problems.

 

[TeslaFan]

Interesting. What effect does roasting have? I'll sometimes mix cocoa powder into my coffee. It tastes yummy, but if I do it too often I start to get digestion problems.

Good question, but I am not sure how roasting affects it.

 

[TeslaFan]

All those 120-year-olds must have been browsing toxinless to buy exclusively dutched cocoa for the past century

Dutch process for cacao was invented in the 19th century and quickly became the standard way of processing cacao. So, although those "120-year-olds" did not have access to toxinless -- as you pointed out -- they also did not have access to Amazon or "health food" stores to sell them the fair-trade raw cacao. So most of them, in fact, did eat Dutch processed cacao, since it was the only kind available to the most people throughout the most of the 20th century.