Gentle Somi,

You have trillions of little creatures living in your colon. That’s not an insult – that’s science. Every human being has around 100 trillion microorganisms in their digestive tract, which means there are more microbe cells in your body than there are human cells! The collective DNA of your microbiome contains 150 times more genes than you do. Technically speaking, you’re a giant society of bacteria, fungi, archaea and viruses, held together by the miracle of human life.

Fibre is food for this living culture in your gut. Fibre is a mass of complex carbohydrates that passes intact through your stomach and small intestine to feed the microbes in your large intestine. As the microbes eat (technically ferment) fibre, they produce short-chain fatty acids like butyrate, acetate and propionate, which strengthen the intestinal barrier (preventing leaky gut), maintain the blood–brain barrier, boost GABA and serotonin production (90% of serotonin is produced in the gut), reduce inflammation, strengthen immunity (70% of our immune cells are in the gut), reduce cholesterol, regulate appetite, balance hormones, and promote all-round tip-top health.

Studies show that eating plenty of fibre reduces all-cause mortality, especially from heart disease. It keeps you feeling full, helps you maintain a healthy weight, makes your time on the toilet more pleasant, lowers blood pressure, helps you detox, and makes your body more resilient. Conversely, a low-fibre diet (especially when high in processed foods) increases chronic inflammation, reduces immune function, increases cholesterol, compromises gut integrity, and increases the risk of diabetes, digestive disorders, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer.

Soma Cacao contains around 15–20% dietary fibre by mass. That means a standard 30 g serving provides 4.5–6 g of fibre – around 16–24% of the recommended daily intake for women and 12–20% for men. For comparison: oats are around 10% fibre, apples 3%, and bananas 2.5%. So your daily cacao, in addition to supplying theobromine, flavanols, antioxidants and mood-boosters (and the taste), also delivers a generous dose of gut-loving fibre to feed the thriving ecosystem inside you.

In addition, the flavanols in cacao also feed our microbiome, while suppressing harmful microbes and reducing oxidative stress in the gut.

So cacao is medicine for your tummy. It’s also medicine for your brain, and medicine for your heart. Our intention in these emails is not to overload you with facts about cacao, but to inform your cacao drinking – to make you a more refined cacao sipper, as it were. It’s nice to think that some of the substance you take in as you drink your delicious cup of Soma Cacao is going to your gut, to feed the little soldiers that keep your body healthy and happy. You can think the same thing as you eat avocado, chickpeas, chia seeds or broccoli. You can also think, as you sip your cacao, of the antioxidants cleaning your blood, the flavanols hydrating your skin, the magnesium soothing your muscles, or the zinc supporting your immune system. It’s all happening – perhaps you can even feel it – but it’s nice to think about it, too.

With mesquite (30% fibre) and ground dates (25%),

Rose, Alistair and the team at Soma Cacao