Abstract
Dietary polyphenols including phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, tannins, lignans, stilbenes, and anthocyanidins are widely found in grains, cereals, pulses, vegetables, spices, fruits, chocolates, and beverages like fruit juices, tea, coffee and wine. In recent years, dietary polyphenols have gained significant interest among researchers due to their potential chemopreventive/protective functions in the maintenance of human health and diseases. It is believed that dietary polyphenols/flavonoids exert powerful antioxidant action for protection against reactive oxygen species (ROS)/cellular oxidative stress (OS) towards the prevention of OS-related pathological conditions or diseases. Pre-clinical and clinical evidence strongly suggest that long term consumption of diets rich in polyphenols offer protection against the development of various chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes, inflammatory disorders and infectious illness. Increased intake of foods containing polyphenols (for example, quercetin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, resveratrol, cyanidin etc.) has been claimed to reduce the extent of a majority of chronic oxidative cellular damage, DNA damage, tissue inflammations, viral/bacterial infections, and neurodegenerative diseases. It has been suggested that the antioxidant activity of dietary polyphenols plays a pivotal role in the prevention of OS-induced human diseases. In this narrative review, the biological/pharmacological significance of dietary polyphenols in the prevention of and/or protection against OS-induced major human diseases such as cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, CVDs, diabetes mellitus, cancer, inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases have been delineated. This review specifically focuses a current understanding on the dietary sources of polyphenols and their protective effects including mechanisms of action against various major human diseases.
Highlights
Dietary polyphenols comprise a significant group of naturally occurring phytochemicals which primarily include phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, tannins, lignans, stilbenes and anthocyanidins
Over 8,000 polyphenols have been reported from plants, out of several hundreds of polyphenols exist in human diets (Arts and Hollman, 2005)
Pre-clinical and clinical evidence strongly suggest that long term consumption of diets rich in polyphenols offer protection against the development of various chronic diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, diabetes, inflammatory disorders and infectious illness (Khan et al, 2021)
Summary
Dietary polyphenols comprise a significant group of naturally occurring phytochemicals which primarily include phenolic acids, flavonoids, catechins, tannins, lignans, stilbenes and anthocyanidins. Dietary polyphenols (or flavonoids) act as efficient free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers (according to biochemical scavenger theory) owing to the presence of aromatic structural feature, multiple hydroxyl groups, and a highly conjugated system (Salisbury and Bronas, 2015) They have the capability to negate ROS or to suppress cellular OS enabling them to avert oxidative damages of biomolecules (lipids, proteins, DNA) and thereby diminish tissue inflammation (Zhang and Tsao, 2016). Increased intake of foods containing polyphenols (for example, quercetin, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, resveratrol, cyanidin etc.) has been claimed to lower the incidence of a majority of chronic oxidative cellular damage, DNA damage, tissue inflammations, various cancers, viral/bacterial infections, and neurodegenerative diseases (Pandey and Rizvi, 2009; Shahidi and Ambigaipalan, 2015; Egbuna et al, 2021; Khan et al, 2021) In this narrative review, the biological/pharmacological significance of dietary polyphenols in the prevention of and/or protection against OS-induced major human diseases such as cancers, neurodegenerative diseases, CVDs, diabetes mellitus, cancer, inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases have been delineated. This review focuses a current understanding on the dietary sources of polyphenols and their protective effects including mechanisms of action against various major human diseases
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