IMR Press / FBL / Volume 27 / Issue 2 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2702057
Open Access Review
Potential applications of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) on diabetic neuropathy: mini-review
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1 Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud (CICSA), Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac México, 52786 Huixquilucan, Estado de México, Mexico
2 Departamento de Fisiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Biológicas, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 07738 Gustavo A. Madero, CDMX, Mexico
3 Dirección de Investigación, Instituto Nacional de Nutrición y Ciencias Médicas Salvador Zubirán, 14080 Tlalpan, CDMX, Mexico
*Correspondence: gabrielasalmean@yahoo.com (Gabriela Gutiérrez-Salmeán)
Academic Editor: Chen Chen
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2022, 27(2), 57; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2702057
Submitted: 12 December 2021 | Revised: 21 December 2021 | Accepted: 21 December 2021 | Published: 12 February 2022
Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Diabetes Mellitus is a highly prevalent disease in Mexico and in the world, among whose complications is diabetic neuropathy. DN is a group of disorders that present signs and/or symptoms of peripheral nerve dysfunction and have different clinical manifestations in both peripheral neuropathy and autonomic neuropathy. As a part of the mechanisms by which DN develops, oxidative stress and inflammation have been described. Cocoa is a plant origin product which includes around 300 components and through different studies, it has been suggested that cocoa has different mechanisms of action through which exerts its beneficial effects on health. It has been proposed that cocoa has hypoglycemic, lipid-lowering, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and thus, potentially have a beneficial direct or indirect effect on diabetic neuropathy. Specially in preclinical studies, the anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effect of cocoa has been evaluated through different mechanisms of action. However, most of the studies presented concerning this complication, are in vitro or preclinical studies, so there is still a great area of opportunity regarding the use of cocoa on diabetic neuropathy.

Keywords
Diabetic neuropathy
Cacao
Cocoa
Inflammation
Oxidative stress
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