• Rocco Salvatore Calabrò, Maria Cristina De Cola, Giuseppe Gervasi, Simona Portaro, Antonino Naro, Maria Accorinti, Alfredo Manuli, Angela Marra, Rosaria De Luca, and Placido Bramanti.
• Behavioral and Robotic Neurorehab Unit, IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino Pulejo", 98123 Messina, Italy. salbro77@tiscali.it.
• Medicina (Kaunas). 2019 May 17; 55 (5).

AbstractBackground: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is characterized by cognition impairment that does not interfere with the usual activities of daily living. It is considered to be a transitional stage between normal aging and dementia. No treatment is available for MCI. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 55 patients (29 males and 26 females, aged 56-75 years) with a diagnosis of amnestic MCI who attended the Center for Cognitive Disorder and Dementia of the IRCCS Centro Neurolesi Bonino Pulejo (Messina, Italy) between January and December of 2017. As we aimed to evaluate the effect of cocoa polyphenols on cognition, the study population was separated into two groups depending on the change in their Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score at a one-year follow-up. Results: Compared to G2 (i.e., patients with a worsening in cognitive functions), the rate of polyphenol intake was significantly higher in patients without a worsening in cognition (i.e., G1) (χ2 = 13.79, df = 1, p-value < 0.001). By subdividing G1 patients based on whether they improved or were stable at follow-up, we found that 46.2% of those who had improved were treated with polyphenols. Conclusions: Dietary supplementation of cocoa flavonoids seems to reduce the progression of MCI to dementia. Further prospective studies with larger sample volumes are required to confirm these promising findings.

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