Why Antioxidants?
Almost everyone has heard of free-radicals and antioxidants. Free Radicals are unstable molecules that attack the cells in the body. They are the "bad-guys" and they affect everyone. Free radicals are a by-product of breathing, stress and pollution. Regardless of how healthy you are or what kind of environment you live in, your body is constantly bombarded with free radicals. Estimates by experts suggest that every cell in your body is attacked an average of 10,000 times every single day. If you think that sounds bad...it's because it is.
Free Radicals represent a significant and serious health concern. They can damage cells and even the DNA resulting in cell mutation and a chain reaction of damage that, if left unstopped, can lead to serious consequences. Scientists have linked Free Radical and oxidation damage to more than 200 diseases and disease processes including certain types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, cataracts, arthritis, Alzheimer's, Multiple Sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, lung disease, fibromyalgia and others. The research linking free radicals to disease continues to mount. Some experts estimate that more than 80 percent of debilitating diseases are related to the effects of free radicals. Harvard Medical School recently published a study in which they conclusively linked free radicals to cellular death (to read more click here).

Antioxidants in your body have much the same affect. The key is to have enough in your body at all times to stop the damage before it occurs.

So, how do we get Antioxidants and where can we find them?

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The Ultimate Source

Our body produces antioxidants but as we get older, it produces fewer and needs more. The balance of what we need must come from what we eat. Antioxidants are found in living plants - fruits, vegetables and some nuts. The bad news is that most people don't get enough of these foods. In fact, 90% of Americans admit that they don't eat enough fruits and vegetables.

As you would expect, not all fruits and vegetables are created equal when it comes to antioxidants. So how can we tell which foods are best for antioxidants?
		This is the very question that top researchers set out to answer when they developed an objective scientific test that would measure the potency and power of antioxidants from different sources. The test produces a number commonly known as an ORAC score. ORAC is an acronym for Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity. Antioxidants are like sponges that absorb and neutralize the free radicals. The higher the score the more oxygen free radicals can be absorbed and neutralized.
The table above illustrates the differences that we see from food to food. Raw spinach scores far better than cherries or red grapes. Blueberries, long believed to be the richest antioxidant food, is nearly twice as powerful as raw spinach. But look at Acai Berry and Unprocessed Cocoa Powder...they dominate the list with scores of 18,500 and 26,000. Xocai utilizes both of these super-foods in their product along with blueberry powder. But their real secret isn't just in the ingredients...it's in their proprietary method for processing the raw cacao. That process is revolutionary in that preserves the health benefits of the raw cacao while maintaining the rich satisfying flavor of gourmet chocolate. The result is a delicious real Belgian chocolate with all the nutrition left intact. Imagine a gourmet chocolate so good for you that it is considered a health supplement...a supplement that you will actually enjoy eating. How often can you say that about a health supplement?

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So how important is the ORAC score? Just having ingredients that score high doesn't mean the product you are consuming will score well. There are a host of factors that effect the ORAC score - processing procedures, quantities and formulation of ingredients, etc.

What really matters is the ORAC score of the product itself. That's exactly why Xocai has gone to the expense to have each of their products independently tested by Brunswick Laboratories and they proudly display the ORAC score of each of their products right on the package.

Check out these Scores:

X Power Squares		X PowerHouse Cookie		Nuggets
Active		Omega Bars		Protein Bars

Let's try to put this into perspective. Let's look at our delicious nuggets - with the lowest ORAC score of all our products. At less than half an ounce they are absolutely packed with anti-oxidant power! Just one nugget provides the antioxidant equivalent of half a pound of raw spinach. That's right...half a pound.

So which would you rather eat?

The average North American daily diet only scores 1,000 - 1,500 on the ORAC scale. Experts tell us that it should be at least 3,000 - 5,000. Some are saying it should be even more. And most agree that its best if we consume antioxidants throughout our day. The goal is to keep the antioxidant level in our bloodstream high throughout the day. The challenge is that most people aren't crazy for spinach, kidney beans, and broccoli and even if they do like them, they don't come remotely close to eating enough of them on a day-in, day-out basis.

Just like with any healthy routine, your chances of success go up dramatically if you can find things you like. If you like it, then it's a whole lot easier to follow through. That's the beauty of chocolate. 99% of people already eat and like chocolate. Adding some healthy chocolate to their diet isn't a chore. It's easy and enjoyable. In fact, it can feel like you are cheating but with Xocai you're not.   "Being healthy has never tasted this good!"

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The Chocolate Vitamin?

Harvard Medical School professor, Norman Hollenberg, is leading the charge and much of the research into the beneficial affects of raw cocoa. Specifically he points to the health benefits of epicatechins (a particular type of antioxidant found in cocoa).

According to Dr. Hollenberg...

What is so exciting about this kind of exposure is that Xocai's X Power Squares contain more epicatechins and catechins than any other chocolate on the market...more than 10 times any other brand and 25 times more than regular dark chocolate!

Imagine getting 25 times the potency in a gourmet dark Belgian chocolate. That's what we have and the more press that bioflavonols (catechins, epicatechins, etc.) receive the more demand there will be for quality products that can deliver them. As of today, no other product comes close.

Ounce for ounce, you just can't do better than Xocai X Power Squares.

You can read the whole ScienceDaily article here.

Other Resources

There is plenty of authoritative information available about the health benefits of dark chocolate and raw cacao. You can do a simple Google search and find thousands upon thousands of references to the more than 3,000 studies that exist.. We did a search for the term "dark chocolate antioxidant studies" and this is what we found:

I hope you noticed the quality and caliber of the sites that came up. And what showed up is just the tip of the iceberg. Do your own google search. Look around at who is talking about and recommending dark chocolate and, even more so, raw cacao.

In addition, the University of Utah Medical School (a well-respected research hospital) is conducting a study utilizing the Xocai products. Based on initial findings, the cardiology researchers expect to demonstrate that regular consumption of Xocai products can have profound effects on cardiovascular systems including blood pressure, cholesterol and artherosclerosis. (You can read more here.)

If you are looking for other scientific data or have specific questions related to the benefits or use of raw cacao, you can check out mydrchocolate.com. This is an excellent resource that is being updated as new research emerges.

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