Polyphenols, flavonoids, flavanols, flavonols. These words get used interchangeably in food marketing, but they describe different, nested things. Understanding the hierarchy matters if you actually want to know what's in your cacao.
Polyphenols: the broad category
Polyphenols are a large family of plant compounds, numbering in the thousands, defined by having multiple phenolic ring structures. They're found across the plant kingdom: in tea, coffee, wine, berries, olive oil, and cacao. "High in polyphenols" is true of a huge range of foods and says very little on its own.
Flavonoids: a subclass of polyphenols
Within polyphenols sits a subclass called flavonoids, which itself splits into several groups: flavanols, flavonols, flavanones, flavones, anthocyanins, and isoflavones. Each has a distinct chemical structure and distinct sources.
Flavanol vs. flavonol: one letter, two different compounds
These two terms are easy to confuse, and they get mixed up constantly, including in product marketing. Flavanols (flavan-3-ols) are the compounds in cacao and tea, including catechin and epicatechin. Flavonols are a separate group entirely, including quercetin (onions, apples) and kaempferol. They have different structures, different food sources, and different research behind them. A product described as "rich in flavonols" is not making a claim about the same compounds as one tested for flavanols.
Flavanols: the specific subclass in cacao
Cacao's relevant compounds are flavanols. The two monomers are catechin and epicatechin. These can also link together into larger structures called procyanidins, classified by degree of polymerization from DP1 (monomer) up to DP10 and beyond.
This distinction is not academic. The EU-authorised health claim on cocoa flavanols and normal blood flow specifically refers to flavanols, not polyphenols or flavonoids generally, and requires 200mg of flavanols daily. The official analytical method used to verify this measures flavanol monomers and oligomers specifically by degree of polymerization, not total polyphenol content.
Why the distinction matters for absorption
Bioavailability differs sharply within the flavanol family itself. Monomers like epicatechin are absorbed relatively efficiently. Larger procyanidins are absorbed far less directly and are partly broken down by gut bacteria before having any effect. This means two products with identical "polyphenol content" on a label can have very different amounts of the specific compound the science is actually about.
All our products, such as our Raw Cacao Powder and Raw Cacao Nibs, are tested for exactly this: flavanol content by degree of polymerization, not a general polyphenol estimate.
Summary
"Polyphenols" is the broad umbrella. "Flavonoids" is a subclass within it. "Flavanols" is a further subclass, distinct from the similarly named "flavonols," and the specific one responsible for cacao's studied cardiovascular effects. When a product is described only as "rich in polyphenols" or "rich in antioxidants," that tells you almost nothing about flavanol content specifically. Testing and reporting flavanol content directly, the way the EU claim requires, is the only way to know what's actually there.
References
Manach C., Scalbert A., Morand C., Rémésy C. & Jiménez L. Polyphenols: food sources and bioavailability. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2004;79(5):727–747. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/79.5.727
European Commission. Commission Regulation (EU) No 851/2013. Official Journal of the European Union.
Bussy U. et al. Single-laboratory validation for the determination of cocoa flavanols and procyanidins (DP1–7): First Action 2020.05. Journal of AOAC International, 2021;104(2):413–421. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaoacint/qsaa132
Bussy U. et al. Determination of cocoa flavanols and procyanidins (DP1–7): collaborative study. Journal of AOAC International, 2022;105(4):1060–1071. https://doi.org/10.1093/jaoacint/qsac007
