2200 years ago, King Hiero II of Syracuse suspected that he had been swindled by his crown-maker. He asked Archimedes to check if his crown was made of solid gold, without damaging the crown. Archimedes knew that if he weighed the crown and determined its volume, he could determine by its density if it was made of gold. But the crown was of an irregular shape, so he could find no way to establish its volume.

The problem hounded Archimedes endlessly. It troubled his work, troubled his sleep, even followed him to the bathroom. One day, as he lay back in a very full bath, he noticed the water spill over the edge, and saw that the volume of water displaced was equal to the volume of his body. Which meant he could measure the volume of a crown by seeing how much water it displaced from a bath! “Eureka!” he cried (“I’ve got it!”), and sprinted naked through Syracuse to tell the king.

Archimedes’ ‘Eureka’ moment was the work of gamma brainwaves. Gamma waves are associated with high-level cognition and insight. When people “have a brainwave,” that is a gamma wave. A 2018 study indicated that savouring a mouthful of cacao leads to a 541.5% increase in gamma waves. But what does that mean practically?

The neurons in our brains communicate by releasing electric impulses. When large groups of neurons release impulses simultaneously, this creates an electrical ‘brainwave’. These brainwaves are categorised by their frequency (how many brainwaves per second) and amplitude (how synchronised the neurons are).

From slowest to fastest, the brainwaves are:

• Delta (associated with deep sleep and repair)
• Theta (associated with daydreaming and idea formation)
• Alpha (meditation and mental clarity)
• Beta (concentration and active thinking)
• Gamma (memory and breakthrough)

The quality of a healthy brain is cognitive flexibility: the ability to flow from deep rest to creativity to insight to cognition to relaxation to rest. Unfortunately, modern life traps many people in beta-wave states (high alertness and over-thinking), precluding them from accessing other states. This explains why so many people have creative blocks, and also why so many people have trouble sleeping.

Hundreds of studies have been done about the effects of cacao on the brain. In addition to a 550% gamma wave leap, cacao consumption has been shown to:

•  reduce the risk of stroke by 29%,
• increase bloodflow to the brain,
• protect against neuronal degeneration, and
• enhance neuroplasticity and cognitive flexibility.

Cacao seems to stimulate synchronised alpha, beta, and gamma activity, without interfering with the brain’s ability to access delta and theta states later (cacao has the highest concentration of magnesium by weight of all foods; magnesium is necessary for accessing delta waves in sleep).

So cacao is a super brainfood - I think we have established that. But we want to draw everyone’s attention to two particular details of the 2018 study: first, that they stressed the importance of high-quality, high-flavonoid, minimally-processed cacao; second, that subjects were required to savour a mouthful of cacao.

The third, bonus, detail, is that subjects in that study sucked on exactly 1.8g of 70% cacao dark chocolate. If doing just that increased gamma wave activity by 550%, imagine what a 25g serve of 100% pure Soma Cacao is doing for your brain each day. It is absolutely mind-boggling. You’d need a cup of cacao just to contemplate it! You’ll be weighing gold crowns using the power of your brain!

Archimedes didn’t need a bath; he needed a Soma. Incidentally, in Ancient Greek, ‘Soma’ means the unity of body and soul. Modern psychology says that the unity of body and mind is the primary condition for a state of flow. A flow state is characterised by increased gamma waves. Gamma waves are stimulated by consuming cacao.

Eureka! Bingo. That’s a wrap.

With orgeat syrup and rose water,

Rose, Alistair, and the team at Soma Cacao