Flavonoids in Our Foods: A Short Review

Abstract

The aerobic metabolism in biological systems, produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) known as prooxidants even in basal conditions. If the formation of prooxidants increases, it leads to oxidative stress/damage. Various diseases in humans (cancer, chronic diseases, cardiovascular problems etc.) accompanies with prooxidant damage. Endogenous and exogenous antioxidants protect biomolecules against the damage of prooxidants. Flavonoids are potent antioxidant molecules, which scavenge free radicals in vitro. They are found in fruits, vegetables, bark, roots, flowers and certain beverages. It has been reported that these natural products produce a wide variety of biological effects, like antiviral, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, antidiabetic effects. Flavonoids are important for human diet and have beneficial effects on health like chelating trace elements involved in free radical production, scavenging ROS and upregulating or protecting antioxidant defenses. In addition, they have known to modulate different cytochrome P450 enzymes such as CYP1A1/1A2, CYP1B1, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4/3A5. Flavonoids and their metabolites in organism may cause flavonoid-drug interaction, and it may lead to toxicity of drug or inefficient therapeutic effects of drug. However, knowledge on the mechanisms of action of flavonoids is still not fully understood. The information about correlation of structurebiological effect is limited. There are six major subclasses of flavonoids are flavanols, flavanones, flavonols, flavones, anthocyanidins, and isoflavones. This review summarizes the types of flavonoids, possible mechanisms of action and pharmacokinetic specialties, bioavailability, properties and drug interactions of these flavonoids.

Comprehensive Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Snake Fruit: Salak (Salacca zalacca)

“…e content of apigenin in fresh foods, especially vegetables and herbs [45], oscillated from 0.10 to 0.54 mg/kg of fw and these values are comparable to the levels observed in this study. e content of apigenin presented in fresh parsley [45] was at the exceptional level of 21.6 mg/kg of fw.…”

Chemical Fingerprint of Free Polyphenols and Antioxidant Activity in Dietary Fruits and Vegetables Using a Non-Targeted Approach Based on QuEChERS Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction Combined with UHPLC-PDA

“…When comparing the obtained results with those reported in the literature, it was observed that Brassica plants, such as broccoli and watercress, presented much lower flavonoid contents than those obtained by Agarwal et al [49] (broccoli, 13.98 mg QE/g vegetable) and Aires et al [50] (watercress, 5.6 mg CatE/g dried weight). This difference may be associated with some factors, such as geographic variation, harvest time, and environmental and agronomic conditions [51,52].…”

Phytochemicals from Plant Foods as Potential Source of Antiviral Agents: An Overview

“…Flavonoids are one of the most important and studied phenolic compounds. These phytochemicals are plant secondary metabolites and are widely found in different food matrices, such as fruits, vegetables and certain beverages [199]. In the last years, flavonoids have been described as related to several favorable biochemical and antioxidant effects, such as, among the others, those associated with cancer, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, and atherosclerosis [200,201].…”