The Regenerative Power Of Stem Cells The Garden Blog / By Michael King For a long time, we thought it wasn’t possible for us (humans) to regenerate. 

We knew Starfish could do it but not us. The fact is were regenerating all the time using stem cells-the same as the Starfish. Who knew? Our Liver for example is constantly regenerating-consider the heavy alcohol user who can regenerate their liver in 30 days when they stop drinking with no complications. Stem cells are the reason our hair grows or we have dandruff or when our skin repairs after injury.

Stem cells come into play when we’re injured, The bigger the injury the more stem cells are needed.

A study in Germany with patients who had suffered heart attacks found those with the most stem cells healed faster than those with less. So. More stems cells-better healing. The downside is as we age our stem cells become less effective, there’s less of them and those we have don’t work very well. There are conditions where stem cells are important.

Alopecia, Alzheimer’s, Asthma, Atherosclerosis, Autism, Burns, chronic wounds. Diabetes, Erectile Dysfunction, Infertility, Heart Disease, Stroke, Macular Degeneration, Osteoporosis, Parkinson’s, Peripheral arterial heart disease and skin ageing.

As we age our stem cells become weaker, if only stem cell therapy was available to replace them-this is the future of medicine, but it’s a very long process and expensive.

Food may be the answer to the 65 million dollar question. Chocolate! Not the milky sugary variety-the dark stuff-Cacao. Hot chocolate made with high flavanols containing Cacao-not to be confused with Cocoa – just 2 cups a day for 30 days showed an increase in stem cells. This was a small study-just 16 people but still, the findings were notable and delicious!

A large study in Germany-20,000 people eating 7.5 grams of dark chocolate a day lowered their risk of heart disease and stroke by 39%.

What I hear you ask, does 7.5 grams of chocolate look like, a measly 3chocolate chips! It’s the flavonoids in the Cacao that are effective.