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Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications

It is well known that cocoa and dark chocolate possess polyphenols as major constituents whose dietary consumption has been associated to beneficial effects. In fact, cocoa and dark chocolate polyphenols exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities switching on some important signaling pathway...

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Autores principales: Magrone, Thea, Russo, Matteo Antonio, Jirillo, Emilio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465250/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28649251
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00677
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author Magrone, Thea
Russo, Matteo Antonio
Jirillo, Emilio
author_facet Magrone, Thea
Russo, Matteo Antonio
Jirillo, Emilio
author_sort Magrone, Thea
collection PubMed
description It is well known that cocoa and dark chocolate possess polyphenols as major constituents whose dietary consumption has been associated to beneficial effects. In fact, cocoa and dark chocolate polyphenols exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities switching on some important signaling pathways such as toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κB/signal transducer and activator of transcription. In particular, cocoa polyphenols induce release of nitric oxide (NO) through activation of endothelial NO synthase which, in turn, accounts for vasodilation and cardioprotective effects. In the light of the above described properties, a number of clinical trials based on the consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate have been conducted in healthy subjects as well as in different categories of patients, such as those affected by cardiovascular, neurological, intestinal, and metabolic pathologies. Even if data are not always concordant, modifications of biomarkers of disease are frequently associated to improvement of clinical manifestations. Quite interestingly, following cocoa and dark chocolate ingestion, cocoa polyphenols also modulate intestinal microbiota, thus leading to the growth of bacteria that trigger a tolerogenic anti-inflammatory pathway in the host. Finally, many evidences encourage the consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate by aged people for the recovery of the neurovascular unit.
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spelling pubmed-54652502017-06-23 Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications Magrone, Thea Russo, Matteo Antonio Jirillo, Emilio Front Immunol Immunology It is well known that cocoa and dark chocolate possess polyphenols as major constituents whose dietary consumption has been associated to beneficial effects. In fact, cocoa and dark chocolate polyphenols exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities switching on some important signaling pathways such as toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor κB/signal transducer and activator of transcription. In particular, cocoa polyphenols induce release of nitric oxide (NO) through activation of endothelial NO synthase which, in turn, accounts for vasodilation and cardioprotective effects. In the light of the above described properties, a number of clinical trials based on the consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate have been conducted in healthy subjects as well as in different categories of patients, such as those affected by cardiovascular, neurological, intestinal, and metabolic pathologies. Even if data are not always concordant, modifications of biomarkers of disease are frequently associated to improvement of clinical manifestations. Quite interestingly, following cocoa and dark chocolate ingestion, cocoa polyphenols also modulate intestinal microbiota, thus leading to the growth of bacteria that trigger a tolerogenic anti-inflammatory pathway in the host. Finally, many evidences encourage the consumption of cocoa and dark chocolate by aged people for the recovery of the neurovascular unit. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5465250/ /pubmed/28649251 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00677 Text en Copyright © 2017 Magrone, Russo and Jirillo. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Magrone, Thea
Russo, Matteo Antonio
Jirillo, Emilio
Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title_full Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title_fullStr Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title_full_unstemmed Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title_short Cocoa and Dark Chocolate Polyphenols: From Biology to Clinical Applications
title_sort cocoa and dark chocolate polyphenols: from biology to clinical applications
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5465250/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28649251
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2017.00677
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