TITLE:
Polyphenols in Fruits and Vegetables and Its Effect on Human Health
AUTHORS:
Giuseppina Pace Pereira Lima, Fabio Vianello, Camila Renata Corrêa, Renê Arnoux da Silva Campos, Milena Galhardo Borguini
KEYWORDS:
Fruits, Vegetables, Consume, Effect on Human, Phenolic Content, Thermal Processing, Absorption
JOURNAL NAME:
Food and Nutrition Sciences,
Vol.5 No.11,
June
18,
2014
ABSTRACT: Polyphenols represent
a group of chemical substances common in plants, structurally characterized by the
presence of one or more phenol units. Polyphenols are the most abundant antioxidants
in human diets and the largest and best studied class of polyphenols is flavonoids,
which include several thousand compounds. Numerous studies confirm that they exert
a protective action on human health and are key components of a healthy and balanced
diet. Epidemiological studies correlate flavonoid intake with a reduced incidence
of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. The involvement
of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the etiology of these degenerative conditions
has suggested that phytochemicals showing antioxidant activity may contribute to
the prevention of these pathologies. The present review deals with phenolic compounds
in plants and reports on recent studies. Moreover, the present work includes information
on the relationships between the consumption of these compounds, via feeding, and
risk of disease occurrence, i.e. the effect
on human health. Results obtained on herbs, essential oils, from plants grown in
tropical, subtropical and temperate regions, were also reported.