https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2019/NP/C8NP00092A

Marine natural products.

Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables per day! This is what is highly recommended and heavily advertised nowadays to the general public to stay fit and healthy! Drinking green tea on a regular basis, eating chocolate from time to time, as well as savoring a couple of glasses of red wine per day have been claimed to increase life expectancy even further! Why? The answer is in fact still under scientific scrutiny, but a particular class of compounds naturally occurring in fruits and vegetables is considered to be crucial for the expression of such human health benefits: the polyphenols! What are these plant products really? What are their physicochemical properties? How do they express their biological activity? Are they really valuable for disease prevention? Can they be used to develop new pharmaceutical drugs? What recent progress has been made toward their preparation by organic synthesis? This Review gives answers from a chemical perspective, summarizes the state of the art, and highlights the most significant advances in the field of polyphenol research.

Plant Polyphenols: Chemical Properties, Biological Activities, and Synthesis

Phenolics and polyphenolics in foods, beverages and spices: Antioxidant activity and health effects – A review

Recent studies have suggested that the intestinal microbiome plays an important role in modulating risk of several chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. At the same time, it is now understood that diet plays a significant role in shaping the microbiome, with experiments showing that dietary alterations can induce large, temporary microbial shifts within 24 h. Given this association, there may be significant therapeutic utility in altering microbial composition through diet. This review systematically evaluates current data regarding the effects of several common dietary components on intestinal microbiota. We show that consumption of particular types of food produces predictable shifts in existing host bacterial genera. Furthermore, the identity of these bacteria affects host immune and metabolic parameters, with broad implications for human health. Familiarity with these associations will be of tremendous use to the practitioner as well as the patient.

/pdf/influence-of-diet-on-the-gut-microbiome-and-implications-for-4i0trq9u9q.pdf

Influence of diet on the gut microbiome and implications for human health.

Flavonoids: a colorful model for the regulation and evolution of biochemical pathways

Condensed tannins (CTs) are flavonoid oligomers, many of which have beneficial effects on animal and human health. The flavanol (-)-epicatechin is a component of many CTs and contributes to flavor and astringency in tea and wine. We show that the BANYULS (BAN) genes from Arabidopsis thaliana and Medicago truncatula encode anthocyanidin reductase, which converts anthocyanidins to their corresponding 2,3-cis-flavan-3-ols. Ectopic expression of BAN in tobacco flower petals and Arabidopsis leaves results in loss of anthocyanins and accumulation of CTs.

/pdf/role-of-anthocyanidin-reductase-encoded-by-banyuls-in-plant-27og8yv0h3.pdf

Role of anthocyanidin reductase, encoded by BANYULS in plant flavonoid biosynthesis.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG): chemical and biomedical perspectives.

The influence of pomegranate by-product and punicalagins on selected groups of human intestinal microbiota

http://siba.unipv.it/farmacia/art/Marrubini/Nat%20Prod%20Rep%202002.pdf

Oligomeric proanthocyanidins: naturally occurring O-heterocycles

Pomegranate juice derived ellagitannins and their intestinal bacterial metabolites, urolithins, inhibited TCDD-induced CYP1-mediated EROD activity in vitro with IC50 values ranging from 56.7 μM for urolithin A to 74.8 μM for urolithin C. These compounds exhibited dose- and time-dependent decreases in cell proliferation and clonogenic efficiency of HT-29 cells. Inhibition of cell proliferation was mediated through cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 and G2/M stages of the cell cycle followed by induction of apoptosis. These results indicate that the ellagitannins and urolithins released in the colon upon consumption of pomegranate juice in considerable amounts could potentially curtail the risk of colon cancer development, by inhibiting cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis.

Daneel Ferreira

Papers

Role of anthocyanidin reductase, encoded by BANYULS in plant flavonoid biosynthesis.

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG): chemical and biomedical perspectives.

The influence of pomegranate by-product and punicalagins on selected groups of human intestinal microbiota

Oligomeric proanthocyanidins: naturally occurring O-heterocycles

Colon Cancer Chemopreventive Activities of Pomegranate Ellagitannins and Urolithins