Past studies by researchers have indicated that loss of flavanols and antioxidant activity can vary with the degree of dutching process or also know as the alkalization process [36, 52]. Gu et al. [41] attributed this loss due to the degradation of procyanidins as a result of alkali treatment and that flavanols are unstable under such basic condition. Therefore, the manufacturing recipes used to produce cocoa powders of various colours (from red to brown/black) could adversely affect the flavanol content of the semi-finished products. Inverse relationships were observed between ORAC, total polyphenols, total flavanols, flavanol dimmers, flavanol monomers, flavanol trimers and pH, respectively, during the dutching (alkalization) process [52].