Flavonoids’ Dual Benefits in Gastrointestinal Cancer and Diabetes: A Potential Treatment on the Horizon?

Abstract

Diabetes and gastrointestinal cancers (GI) are global health conditions with a massive burden on patients’ lives worldwide. The development of both conditions is influenced by several factors, such as diet, genetics, environment, and infection, which shows a potential link between them. Flavonoids are naturally occurring phenolic compounds present in fruits and vegetables. Once ingested, unabsorbed flavonoids reaching the colon undergo enzymatic modification by the gut microbiome to facilitate absorption and produce ring fission products. The metabolized flavonoids exert antidiabetic and anti-GI cancer properties, targeting major impaired pathways such as apoptosis and cellular proliferation in both conditions, suggesting the potentially dual effects of flavonoids on diabetes and GI cancers. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the impact of flavonoids on diabetes and GI cancers in four significant pathways. It also addresses the synergistic effects of selected flavonoids on both conditions. While this is an intriguing approach, more studies are required to better understand the mechanism of how flavonoids can influence the same impaired pathways with different outcomes depending on the disease.

Nutritional Qualities of Different Commercial Raspberries Consumed in Morocco

“…Their positive impact on metabolic pathways associated with diabetes and gastrointestinal cancers has been demonstrated, acting in a targeted manner on altered pathways such as apoptosis and cell proliferation. 73 Additionally, it has been demonstrated that flavonoids possess the capacity to impede the metabolic process of midostaurin, a medicinal substance employed in the management of specific categories of cancers. 74 Flavonoids have a wide range of beneficial effects on human health, including antioxidant, anticancer, antimicrobial, neuroprotective, and anti-inflammatory effects.…”

The Influence of Gut Microbial Species on Diabetes Mellitus

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