Patent ID: 8377424

Claim:
A method of treating periodontal disease in a human in need thereof comprising administering to the human a composition comprising a cocoa bean extract in an amount effective to reduce inflammation wherein the cocoa bean extract is prepared according to the process comprising the following steps: i. providing cocoa beans which are unfermented, and/or fermented for up to and including 4 days, wherein the cocoa beans are de-hulled cocoa beans; ii. reducing de-hulled cocoa beans to powder including the step of defatting; iii. extracting the powder obtained in step (ii) with an aqueous solvent solution comprising an organic solvent and water, wherein the organic solvent is selected from the group consisting of acetone and alcohol; and iv. removing the solvent; wherein the cocoa bean extract comprises epicatechin, catechin, procyanidin dimer B2, procyanidin dimer B5, procyanidin trimer, procyanidin tetramer, procyanidin pentamer, procyanidin hexamer, procyanidin heptamer, procyanidin octamer, procyanidin nonamer and procyanidin decamer, and wherein the cocoa extract has the HPLC profile as shown in FIG. 2B .