Smart Chocolate as a Platform for New Generation of Functional Food

We have developed a process, which can protect cocoa flavanols by embedding them into lycopene, or other carotenoids. This results in an increase in their ‘survival’ in the digestive tract, and consequently in an improvement in their absorption and efficacy. Clinical studies demonstrated that our process can improve the bioavailability of these molecules and increase their efficacy so that a piece of 5-10g has the power of 100g of unmodified dark chocolate. We used this enriched cocoa flavanol Smart Chocolate as a platform to combine other food bioactive molecules with established physiological properties. They included lycopene to protect plasma lipoproteins, lutein and zeaxanthin to support neuron tissues, and astaxanthin to boost mitochondria respiration. Results of clinical validation demonstrated their superior efficacy above unmodified dark chocolate and conventional supplementation. In addition we combined this platform with trans-resveratrol. The main problem in clinical application of this molecule is that in isolated form its bioavailability 100 to 1,000 lower than when it is consumed with red wine. By using our technology we developed chocolate with bioavailability of t-RSV boosted to the level of red wine.