Cacao & Stress Support

What our National Health Study discovered

In 2020, during a time when stress and anxiety were rising globally, we carried out a National Health Study alongside our 21 Day Cacao Challenge to explore a simple question:

Could drinking ceremonial-grade cacao daily support people experiencing stress and anxiety?

Participants were asked to drink cacao every day for three weeks and track their stress levels using a recognised psychological questionnaire called the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10).

The results were surprising, and they opened an important conversation about how simple daily rituals can support emotional wellbeing.

Why We Carried Out This Study

At Ritual Cacao, we have long believed that cacao can be more than just a drink.

When consumed mindfully and consistently, ceremonial-grade cacao has the potential to support calm, focus and emotional balance. We wanted to explore whether people who drank cacao daily would experience measurable changes in their stress levels.

So during our 21 Day Cacao Challenge, we invited participants to track their stress and emotional state over a three-week period.

How the Study Worked

Participants were asked to follow a simple daily protocol for 21 days.

Each person:

  • Drank 20g of ceremonial-grade cacao daily

  • Completed the Perceived Stress Scale questionnaire once a week

  • Completed a baseline questionnaire before starting

This allowed us to compare how participants felt before the challenge and over the following three weeks.

Participant Guidelines

To ensure consistency, participants were asked to:

  • Drink 20g of unsweetened ceremonial cacao daily

  • Avoid coffee and other stimulants

  • Refrain from alcohol or recreational drugs

  • Drink their cacao at roughly the same time each day

  • Maintain the same dose throughout the challenge

Those taking SSRIs or antidepressants were not included in the study to avoid confounding results.

Key Findings

Across the three weeks, participants reported a significant improvement in how they felt.

Some of the most notable changes included:

Stress and Nervousness

Before the challenge, 60% of participants reported often feeling nervous or stressed.
By the end of the three weeks, that number dropped to 6%.

Feeling Upset

Participants who said they felt upset frequently dropped from 53% at the start to 14% after 21 days.

Feeling in Control

At the start, 58% felt unable to control important things in their lives.
By Week 3, 65% reported feeling in control, and only 8% still felt unable to control things.

Ability to Cope

Participants who said they struggled to cope dropped from 48% to just 14% by the end of the challenge.

Feeling on Top of Things

Those who reported feeling “on top of things” increased from 39% to 76%.

Who Took Part

A total of 52 participants completed the full study.

  • 48 participants were female and 4 male

  • 95% followed the cacao protocol consistently

  • 93% drank cacao unsweetened

  • None were taking antidepressants

  • 100% said they would be interested in a longer-term cacao study

Important Context

This was not a clinical trial, and there are some limitations to consider:

  • The participant group was predominantly female

  • The study took place during lockdown, when stress levels were unusually high

  • Some participants may already have had a positive relationship with cacao

However, the results still showed clear improvements across all ten stress-scale questions over the three-week period.

What This Means

Our findings suggest that daily ceremonial-grade cacao may offer a gentle and supportive way to reduce stress and anxiety for people experiencing everyday pressures.

But the results also point to something deeper.

Many participants reported that the act of drinking cacao intentionally at the same time each day created a sense of rhythm and control, which may have contributed to the improvements they experienced.

In other words, cacao may not just be about nutrition — it can become a daily ritual that supports emotional wellbeing.

A Simple Practice for Modern Life

In a world that often feels fast, unpredictable and demanding, creating small daily rituals can have a powerful impact.

A cup of cacao can be:

  • a moment to pause

  • a way to reconnect with yourself

  • a practice that supports calm and clarity

This isn’t about quick fixes.

It’s about building simple habits that support resilience and wellbeing over time.

Curious to Experience It Yourself?

Many people discover the benefits of cacao through our 21 Day Cacao Challenge, where you can build your own daily cacao ritual.

You can also begin by simply introducing one mindful cup of ceremonial cacao into your day.

Sometimes the smallest daily practices create the biggest shifts.