A professor at the University of Ghana Medical School says regular intake of cocoa can prevent malaria and cure cerebral malaria.

Prof Kwaku Addai said it was an already established fact that the cocoa bean has the ability to boost the immune system and prevent diseases including cerebral malaria.

Speaking at a public conference on the health benefits of cocoa, Prof Addai said together with a team of researchers, a study is being conducted to investigate whether cocoa can also treat malaria itself apart from cerebral malaria.

“Cocoa helps to boost your immune system helping you to ward off many illnesses including colds and cerebral malaria.

In fact, we have drawn up a study to try and see whether apart from cerebral malaria, it can also protect against malaria itself.

Because I can tell you for a fact that, for about two years now that my family and I have being drinking cocoa regularly, we have not had malaria.

We need to show this in the laboratory and we are planning to do that in rats, to see whether the right type of malaria when the rats are given cocoa, the parasites can nullify.

But again, looking at the amount of anti-substance in cocoa, we think we know how it works but we still need to confirm it.”

Prof Addai also said the country could enjoy more of the health benefits of cocoa if Ghanaians would increase their intake of unsweetened cocoa.