Advances in Polyphenol Research from Chile: A Literature Review

Abstract

Certain countries have the privilege of diverse ecosystems that allow access to wide food availability. This fact carries an intrinsic diversity in bioactive compounds such as phytochemicals, especially polyphenols.The aim of this review is to summarize the advances in polyphenols research which have been conducted in Chile, with a focus on polyphenol-rich foods and health-related outcomes. In the first part, several studies that have analyzed food sources rich in polyphenols are presented. This is followed by a description of in vitro and in vivo studies from Chile that have evaluated the polyphenol compounds of Chilean foods or their extracts along with their biological activity or health effects. Most polyphenol studies in our search have an in vitro experimental design where mainly protective activities are tested. The antioxidant effect is remarkable in all studies. As well as discussing the future direction of dietary assessment and the approach to biomarkers in this field, currently, additional emphasis and research investment are necessary to explore more native foods with an added value.

Comparison of Flavonoid Intake Assessment Methods Using USDA and Phenol Explorer Databases: Subcohort Diet, Cancer and Health-Next Generations—MAX Study

“…The combining of databases/sources in an international system could be an interesting challenge to cover insufficient data for food items and missing values, among others. Indeed, international food databases need to move forward in updating foods and covering more flavonoid-rich foods from different regions ( 1 , 22 ). Standardization of the procedures for the quantification of polyphenols is the key to a better validation and comparison of data.…”

“…Flavonoids are the largest class of polyphenols, some of which are ubiquitous throughout the plant kingdom, while others are specific to one plant species/genus ( 1 ). Flavonoids are mainly found in plant-derived foods and beverages such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, cocoa products, tea, and wine ( 2 , 3 ).…”

“…In nature, they are usually found as glycosides, i.e., conjugated to a sugar. However, some flavonoids such as flavanols are only present as aglycones (free form) ( 1 ).…”

“…Flavonoid composition data are influenced by the food (variety, origin, ripeness, terroir, etc. ), processing and cooking method, and the laboratory methodology used ( 1 ).To date, there are two major global FCDBs for flavonoids, namely, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Phenol-Explorer (PE; www.phenol-explorer.eu ) databases ( 5 ). The content of flavonoids in the USDA database is expressed as aglycones and is split into three separate databases, namely, flavonoids (512 foods/beverages) ( 6 ), isoflavones (560 foods/beverages) ( 7 ), and proanthocyanidins (285 foods/beverages) ( 8 ).…”

Descriptive analysis of dietary (poly)phenol intake in the subcohort MAX from DCH-NG: “Diet, Cancer and Health—Next Generations cohort”

“…In recent years, the USDA and Phenol-Explorer databases have been commonly used for estimating individual or total (poly)phenols separately or in a customized way [12]. Phenol-Explorer allowed us to include more classes and subclasses of (poly)phenols, and express them as they are found in nature, mainly as glycosides and esters [26]. When comparing our total (poly)phenols (1325 mg/day) with other similar studies using Phenol-Explorer, comparable mean intakes (1193 mg/day) were estimated by six 24-HDRs in the SUVIMAX study [27].…”