DIABETES

COCOA CAN HELP COMBAT EFFECTS OF DIABETES

Scientists at Brazil’s Campinas State University says research they have conducted suggests that cocoa and green tea contain substances that may help prevent and reduce the effects of kidney complications and retinal lesions caused by diabetes. Their findings form part of a study supported by the Sao Paulo State Research Support Foundation.

Jose Butori Lopes de Faria, coordinator of the study, said the project “proved, in a rigorous way” that cocoa and green tea reduce the death of ‘podocytes,’ cells that restrict the transfer of proteins to urine. “The transfer of albumin to urine is the main renal disorder in a patient with diabetes,” he said.

The beneficial effects of cocoa and green tea were attributed to the presence of polyphenols, although, in the case of cocoa, researchers found that it contains other substances that might help treat the effects of diabetes. One of them is theobromine, an alkaloid that activates the nervous system. Theobromine’s possible benefits in the treatment of diabetes have not been described before in specialized literature.

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