2.10. Cocoa Flavonoids and Brain Health: Physiological and Molecular Mechanisms Underpinning Their
Beneficial Effects
Vauzour, D.
Accumulating evidence suggests that diet and lifestyle can play an important role in delaying
the onset or halting the progression of age-related health disorders and in improving cognitive
function.
A growing number of dietary intervention studies in humans and animals, and in particular
those using cocoa flavonoids, have been proposed to exert a multiplicity of neuroprotective actions
within the brain, including the potential to protect neurons against injury induced by neurotoxins,
the ability to suppress neuroinflammation and the potential to promote memory, learning, and
cognitive functions.
These effects appear to be underpinned by two common processes. First, they are
capable of interactions with critical protein and lipid kinase signaling cascades in the brain, leading to
an inhibition of apoptosis triggered by neurotoxic species and to a promotion of neuronal survival and
synaptic plasticity. Second, they induce beneficial effects on the vascular system, leading to changes
in cerebrovascular blood flow capable of causing enhanced vascularization and neurogenesis, two
events important in the maintenance of cognitive performances.
Together, these processes act to maintain brain homeostasis and play important roles in neuronal stress adaptation and thus cocoa
flavonoids might have the potential to prevent the progression of neurodegenerative pathologies.
Muy interesante y prometedor!!
ResponderEliminar