Glucose-lowering Potential of Cocoa Powder Intake - An Avenue for Positive Management of Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a public health problem which is increasing all over the world and various contributions to its prevention and management is crucial. Cocoa powder as a food ingredient has been discovered to have medicinal purposes most especially in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. This study was conducted to determine the efficacy of cocoa powder on the blood glucose level, body weight, feed and water in-take of experimental normal and albino rats with DM.

Sixty matured male and female albino rats with an average weight of 200 g were randomly divided into 10 groups of 6 rats which include the normal and diabetic control and 8 treatment groups. DM was induced intravenously by giving the rats a single dose of Alloxan Monohydrate (100 mg/kg body weight) and the treatments include 1-4% natural cocoa powder mixed-feed.

The results showed that cocoa powder could normalize increase fasting blood glucose and water in-take as well as body weight loss caused by alloxan. The group with DM fed with 4% cocoa powder feed showed the lowest water intake (29.6±8.41 ml) as well as the lowest final fasting blood glucose level (101±3.26 mg/dl) when compared to the diabetic control group while the normal group fed with 4% cocoa powder had the lowest body weight (204±11.6 g) when compared to the normal control group. There was a significant decrease in the final feed intake of both the diabetic and normal treatment groups when compared to the normal control group.

This study suggests that cocoa powder contains glucose-lowering potentials that could yield a positive result in the management of DM.