Natural polyphenols: An overview

Abstract

Plant-derived functional foods are gaining considerable attention due to their safety and therapeutic potentials. Research on plant-based functional foods presents several challenges ranges from hypercholesterolemia to cancer prevention. In last decade, special attention has been paid to edible plants and especially their phytochemicals. Today, there is an increasing interest in their bioactivities provided by these phytochemicals. Polyphenols are the most numerous and widely distributed group of bioactive molecules. Polyphenols have two general classes, one is flavonoids and other is phenolic acids. Among these, flavonoids are further divided into flavones, flavononse, flavonols, flavanols, isoflavones, and phenolic acids are generally classified into hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids. Fruit peel is one of the dense sources for flavonoids and their content may vary from species to species and due to exposure of light. Polyphenols have wide range of molecules and different set of biological activities that are mainly attributed to their structure. Investigations have revealed that polyphenols play a key role to prevent various diseases, like hypercholesterolemia, hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia, and cancer insurgence. The current review article summarizes the literature pertaining to polyphenols and its allied health benefits.

Structure‐Activity Relationships Analysis of Monomeric and Polymeric Polyphenols (Quercetin, Rutin and Catechin) Obtained by Various Polymerization Methods

“…This is why flavonoids always (with only a few exceptions) have an OH at C‐5 and C‐7. On the basis of the oxidation state of the central carbon, flavonoids are divided into the subgroups flavanones, flavanols, flavonols, isoflavones, flavones, and anthocyanidins ( Figure ) …”

Allium vegetables for possible future of cancer treatment

“…Speculations suggested that such medical and biological uses of the Allium species might be due to the presence of organosulphur compounds (OSCs) like ajoene, diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS), S‐alk (en) yl‐ l‐cysteine sulfoxides, S‐allyl mercaptocysteine, and polysulfanes that gives them a sharp and tang smells (Kim et al, ; Putnik et al, ). Other effective compounds in these plants include carotenoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins, gallic and ferulic acids, quercetin, tricosan, alkaloids, saponins, and tannins (Abbas et al, ; Awan, Butt, Haq, Ashfaq, & Suleria, ). So far, various mechanisms including inhibition of cell cycle progression and genotoxicity, histone modification, inhibition of angiogenesis and metastasis, and induction of apoptosis have been attributed to the anticancer activities of them (Druesne et al, ; Herman‐Antosiewicz & Singh, ; Nakagawa et al, ; Singh et al, ; Türkoğlu, ).…”

Compositional Analysis of Pakistani Green and Red Cabbage

“…an endogenous antioxidant enzyme. Besides, these vegetables are also considered as a rich source of dietary fiber, phytoceutics and antioxidant vitamins (Vallejo et al, 2004;Podsędek et al, 2006;Jeffery and Araya, 2009;Amnah, 2013;Al-Dosari, 2014;Park et al, 2014;Abbas et al, 2017). Furthermore, previous researchers disclosed the mineral profile of raw and cooked common cabbage that reflected higher amounts of potassium followed by calcium, magnesium and sodium, whereas trace amounts of iron, manganese, copper and zinc were also detected.…”