January 31/Barcelona/Agence France Presse -- In what they claim is the first study of its kind in relation to intestinal pathologies, a research team out of Spain has concluded that cocoa can act as a defense system for the body by interrupting the cell-signaling pathways involved in cell proliferation, a process which results in the formation of tumors.
Their study also found that a cocoa-rich diet can help increase a natural process known as apoptosis or cell death, in which the body eliminates old, unhealthy cells, to make way for new ones -- a "chemoprevention mechanism" that helps ward off cancer advancement.