Theobromine

In correspondence responding to a reader who had come across claims about raw cacao being dangerous, Aajonus quoted and engaged with the conventional criticism that chocolate contains methylxanthines, a chemical class that includes theobromine, caffeine, and theophylline. The quoted claim stated that theobromine "is known to cause a host of symptoms including abnormal glandular growth, nervousness, depression, anxiety, insomnia, gastrointestinal problems, and itching." The same passage attributed to caffeine a suspected carcinogenic role and direct links to heart and circulatory problems, glandular difficulties, nervous disorders, osteoporosis, and birthing abnormalities. Theophylline, the third compound, was said to cause stomach problems, nausea, vomiting, and nervous disorders.

Aajonus did not flatly reject these characterizations, but his response introduced a crucial distinction between the raw and processed forms of these compounds.

In a newsletter passage included in the source material, Aajonus directly addressed the claim that theobromine, caffeine, and theophylline were "known to produce permanent degenerative alterations in cellular protoplasm." His response to that claim was precise: "In micro amounts, raw theobromine, caffeine and theophyline stimulate creative thought." This is the central pivot in his position. The harm he attributed to these compounds elsewhere was not categorically denied, but he introduced the qualifier that in micro amounts and in their raw state, the effects were different, specifically stimulating to creative cognition rather than degenerative to cellular structure.

The newsletter passage also noted that raw cocoa contains flavonoids, which he identified as antioxidants, and that it "strengthens blood pressure, heart and vascular system improving circulation, glucose metabolism and eye sight." This positive characterization of raw cocoa, in the same newsletter passage, sits alongside the acknowledgment of the methylxanthine content and suggests that Aajonus understood raw cacao as a compound food with both beneficial and potentially problematic constituents, whose net effect depended heavily on quantity and preparation.

In a direct email response to a reader who asked about the conflict between what he had written in his book warning about caffeine and theobromine and his own practice of consuming chocolate, Aajonus wrote: "Raw chocolate made with raw butter and honey is fine in small quantities." He referenced a newsletter he had written on the subject, Volume 7, dated October 30, 2007, as the extended treatment of this position.

The combination of raw butter and honey with raw chocolate was not incidental. Throughout the Primal Diet framework, raw fat serves as a protective and binding agent when the body encounters irritating or mildly toxic substances, and honey serves specific roles in neurological support and as a carrier for nutrients into cells. The implication of pairing chocolate with raw butter and honey, rather than consuming it alone, is consistent with how Aajonus handled other mildly challenging substances: the fat mediates the irritant effect and the honey provides a form of buffering or transport. The specific quantities were not spelled out in the available sources beyond the phrase "small quantities."

The characterization of theobromine and caffeine as nerve irritants that function as stimulants is consistent with how Aajonus generally understood all stimulant compounds, including pharmaceutical stimulants, sugar, and recreational drugs. In the broader framework, stimulation of the adrenal glands and nervous system through irritant compounds produces a feeling of elevated energy or wellbeing that Aajonus consistently reframed as a stress response rather than a sign of improved health. He made this argument explicitly about caffeine and nicotine in other contexts, noting that the sense of vitality they produced came from adrenal excitation rather than cellular nourishment, and that repeated use of such compounds ultimately depleted the systems they excited.

Theobromine, as the primary stimulant alkaloid in chocolate (present in greater quantity than caffeine in cacao), would fall under this same framework analysis even where Aajonus did not extend the explicit argument to it. The nerve irritant label in "We Want to Live" aligns with this broader pattern.

In the food-as-remedy section of "We Want to Live," Aajonus included chocolate explicitly in a list of caffeine-containing substances, alongside coffee, tea, and soda, all of which he said "damages nerves and brain" and "in many people it damages eyes." He further noted that caffeine consumed by a mother during relevant periods caused problems for offspring. Because chocolate was listed as a caffeine source in this passage, the warning about nerve and eye damage from caffeine applies to chocolate consumption as a caffeine vehicle, and theobromine as the other primary stimulant alkaloid in chocolate is contextually implicated in this reading, even where Aajonus named only caffeine explicitly.

The source material does not present a single unified statement on theobromine. What it presents is a position that shifted depending on whether Aajonus was warning about stimulants generally, engaging with conventional fears about cacao, or responding to a reader who wanted to know whether raw chocolate was permissible. In "We Want to Live," theobromine is a nerve irritant. In the newsletter, raw theobromine in micro amounts stimulates creative thought. In the email response, raw chocolate with raw butter and honey is fine in small quantities.

These are not necessarily contradictions within a framework that distinguishes raw from cooked and that regards quantity as determinative of whether a substance functions as a stimulant irritant or as a mild beneficial agent. A compound that irritates nerves in large amounts or in its processed form may produce a different effect in micro amounts in its raw form accompanied by protective fats. Aajonus did not explicitly reconcile the different framings in the available sources, and both versions should be treated as reflecting positions he actually took in different contexts.

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