PHARMACOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE OF POLYPHENOLS: A REVIEW

Abstract

Importance of plants in human society is immense. Since the advent of human civilization, the plants have been a major source of food for the human beings. In addition to it, humans also utilised plants for as important source of medicines which is now known as traditional medicine. At present, plants are getting importance not only as a source of food but also as a very important source of medicine and health supplements. Scientists at present are using the knowledge of traditional medicines as backbone to explore the chemical and molecular aspects of mechanism of action. Thus, the present focus of medical science is to exploit plants and their natural products for harvest of various medicinally important principles. Among various natural products found in plants, polyphenols are one of the most abundant. Based on the chemical structure they can be classified into phenolic acids, flavonoids, coumarins, lignans, stilbenes etc. They are widely distributed in almost all plants and exhibit strong antioxidant potential due to its unique molecular design. They have their origin from phenyl alanine or tyrosine and take the phenyl propanoid pathway for their synthesis. Apart from conferring protection to the plants from herbivore and other microbial attacks, polyphenols also possess a wide array of beneficial pharmacological activity. Presently they are largely used for treatment of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, neurodegenerative disorders and many others. This review focuses on the sources and chemical nature of polyphenols and its beneficial pharmacological activities.