Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Nutrition Diva listener Lindsay recently asked me to look into a new superfood she'd heard about.

She wrote, after listening to your podcast for quite some time, I know to be skeptical of any new superfood but I'm really

curious about brewed cacao is it as good as it claims to be in terms of

antioxidants and theobromine how would would it compare to a square of dark chocolate?

I'm wondering if this is a drink to embrace or a void. Well to be honest with you I

hadn't heard about brood

cacao before Lindsay brought it to my attention but boy am I glad she did

brute cacao is a delicious way to enjoy the health benefits of chocolate

without the sugar, fat, or calories that

usually come along with it and it's also a great low caffeine alternative to

coffee. Now I have nothing against caffeine per se. Regular caffeine

consumption appears to confer several benefits including protection

against Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Now coffee is the main source of

caffeine in most people's diets and coffee also has health benefits above and

beyond its caffeine content such as reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.

And coffee is also the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet.

Nonetheless, coffee doesn't agree with everyone and some people just prefer to avoid

caffeine. Even those of us who do enjoy coffee often choose not to consume it after a certain point in the day so that it doesn't mess with our sleep.

And that's where brood cacao comes in.

First enjoyed by the ancient Incans, broodacao is like coffee, but it's made with

cacao beans instead of coffee beans. The cacao beans are dried and

lightly fermented and then roasted, and then the roasted beans are ground and used to brew a hot beverage.

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