Activación de áreas cerebrales al comer chocolate y aumento de crisis epilépticas focales

Introduction

Epilepsy is a neurological disease characterized by the onset of epileptic seizures, due to an abnormal electrical discharge of the brain; so that it affects a specific region (focal epilepsy), or the whole brain (generalized epilepsy). Epilepsy has always been stigmatized, largely due to lack of knowledge about the disease. One of these myths has been the relationship between chocolate and its power to promote the onset of epileptic seizures.

Objective

Find scientific evidence on brain activation by chocolate and its capacity for epileptogénesis.

Methodology

A literature search was performed on PubMed, Google Scholar and Trip database. Subsequently, a critical reading of the selected articles was performed obtaining a total of 10 relevant articles.

Conclusions

In animal studies, a relationship was found between chocolate consumption and hippocampal seizures. No studies have been found in humans in this line of research, however, in studies in healthy people it has been observed that chocolate activates the mesial temporal and frontal areas, with epilepsy originating in the temporal and frontal lobes, and more specifically the mesial structures, the most prevalent in humans. However, studies in people with epilepsy are necessary to establish the relationship between chocolate and ictogenesis.