LETTER
REVISTA DE LA FACULTAD DE MEDICINA HUMANA 2023 - Universidad Ricardo Palma10.25176/RFMH.v23i2.5708
FOODS WITH AN ANTIOXIDANT FUNCTION
AND THEIR IMPACT ON DIABETIC RETINOPATHY
ALIMENTOS CON FUNCIÓN ANTIOXIDANTE Y SUS REPERCUSIONES EN LA RETINOPATÍA DIABÉTICA
Carolina Montalvo - Saba
1
1 Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Biomédicas (INICIB). Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima-Peru.
I had the opportunity to review an article published in the first edition of the Revista de la Facultad de Medicina Humana de la Universidad Ricardo Palma this year, which is entitled consumption of foods rich in antioxidants in outpatients with diabetic retinopathy at the hospital la carlota during 2021 (1), identificado con DOI n° Disponible en: 10.25176/RFMH.v22i1.4121 and written by Raquel Martínez-Kurata, et al., where they sought to find the amount of antioxidant consumption focusing on vitamins C, E and selenium in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), which managed to capture my attention and aroused my curiosity, motivating me to seek more information about it. Therefore, let me comment on some points of view in common with the authors.
In the scientific publication to be analyzed (1), it is pointed out that the consumption of these substances offers promising results in previous medical literature, where a decrease in oxidative stress and the proinflammatory environment characteristic of diabetes are proposed, which favors the appearance of microangiopathies and, therefore, the development of DR, this being one of the least desired scenarios for people who suffer from it. In a review article published in 2018, emphasis is placed on treatment with antioxidants as a preventive measure in this possible context. The most applied and preferred by health professionals today include using antioxidants as substrates and their synthesis in laboratories, obtaining new drug combinations with a great capacity to respond to stressors induced by apoptotic mechanisms and guaranteeing the maintenance of beta cells and their functions (2). Other therapies include the use of phytochemicals, as they are effective and more economically accessible (3).
Nevertheless, despite the great successes in medical practice, some studies analyzed in the review article "The Roles of Vitamins in Diabetic Retinopathy: A Narrative Review" (4), show a variation in the serum dosage of specific vitamins in patients diagnosed with diabetes, such as vitamin A, vitamin D, the B complex and even vitamins C, E and selenium, which were the main macromolecules on which they focused, as I emphasized at the beginning of this letter. Each of these substances is usually found to be decreased or elevated depending on the study (4), which causes difficulties in finding any definitive results and confirming an association between the development of diabetic retinopathy and the deficiency of antioxidants in the diet, ratifying the conclusion proposed in the article by Martinez-Kurata et al. (1).
which causes difficulties in finding any definitive results and confirming an association between the development of diabetic retinopathy and the deficiency of antioxidants in the diet, ratifying the conclusion proposed in the article by Martinez-Kurata et al.
Authorship contributions:
The authors participated in the genesis of the idea, project design, data collection and interpretation, analysis of
results, and preparation of the manuscript of this research work.
Financing:
Self-financed.
Declaration of conflicts of interest:
No conflicts of interest are declared.
Received:
April 1, 2023.
Approved:
May 14, 2023.
Correspondent author:
Carolina Montalvo Saba.
Address:
Jr. Morales Bermúdez 167, Pueblo Libre.
Cellphone:
949 639 565
E-mail:
caro0702montalvos@gmail.com
Article published by the Journal of the faculty of Human Medicine of the Ricardo Palma University. It is an open access article, distributed under the terms of the Creatvie Commons license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, CC BY 4.0(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/), that allows non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is duly cited. For commercial use, please contact revista.medicina@urp.edu.pe.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
