Tea is widely consumed all over the world. Generally, tea is divided into six categories: White, green, yellow, oolong, black, and dark teas, based on the fermentation degree. Tea contains abundant ...phytochemicals, such as polyphenols, pigments, polysaccharides, alkaloids, free amino acids, and saponins. However, the bioavailability of tea phytochemicals is relatively low. Thus, some novel technologies like nanotechnology have been developed to improve the bioavailability of tea bioactive components and consequently enhance the bioactivity. So far, many studies have demonstrated that tea shows various health functions, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immuno-regulatory, anticancer, cardiovascular-protective, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, and hepato-protective effects. Moreover, it is also considered that drinking tea is safe to humans, since reports about the severe adverse effects of tea consumption are rare. In order to provide a better understanding of tea and its health potential, this review summarizes and discusses recent literature on the bioactive components, bioavailability, health functions, and safety issues of tea, with special attention paid to the related molecular mechanisms of tea health functions.
Tea is a traditional and popular beverage worldwide, and the consumption of tea has been demonstrated to possess many health benefits, such as cardiovascular protection, anti-obesity, anti-diabetes, ...and anticancer. Epidemiological studies have shown that the consumption of tea is inversely associated with the risk of several cancers. In addition, experimental studies have revealed that the anticancer actions of tea are mainly attributed to tea polyphenols, such as epigallocatechin-3-gallate and theaflavins. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have demonstrated that the possible anticancer mechanisms are the inhibition on proliferation, anti-angiogenesis, induction of apoptosis, suppression on metastasis, inhibition on cancer stem cells, and modulation on gut microbiota. Its synergetic anticancer effects with drugs or other compounds could promote anticancer therapies. Furthermore, clinical trials have elucidated that intervention of tea phytochemicals is effective in the prevention of several cancers. This paper is an updated review for the prevention and management of cancers by tea based on the findings from epidemiological, experimental and clinical studies, and special attention is paid on the mechanisms of action.
Metabolic diseases are serious threats to public health and related to gut microbiota. Probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and postbiotics (PPSP) are powerful regulators of gut microbiota, thus ...possessing prospects for preventing metabolic diseases. Therefore, the effects and mechanisms of PPSP on metabolic diseases targeting gut microbiota are worth discussing and clarifying. Generally, PPSP benefit metabolic diseases management, especially obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The underlying gut microbial-related mechanisms are mainly the modulation of gut microbiota composition, regulation of gut microbial metabolites, and improvement of intestinal barrier function. Moreover, clinical trials showed the benefits of PPSP on patients with metabolic diseases, while the clinical strategies for gestational diabetes mellitus, optimal formula of synbiotics and health benefits of postbiotics need further study. This review fully summarizes the relationship between probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, postbiotics, and metabolic diseases, presents promising results and the one in dispute, and especially attention is paid to illustrates potential mechanisms and clinical effects, which could contribute to the next research and development of PPSP.
Resveratrol is a bioactive compound in many foods. Since its anticancer activity was reported in 1997, its health benefits have been intensively investigated. Resveratrol has antioxidant, ...anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, glucose and lipid regulatory, neuroprotective, and cardiovascular protective effects, therefore, can protect against diverse chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, liver diseases, obesity, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. This review summarizes the main findings of resveratrol-related health benefits in recent epidemiological surveys, experimental studies, and clinical trials, highlighting its related molecular mechanisms. Resveratrol, therefore, has been regarded as a potent candidate for the development of nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals to prevent and treat certain chronic diseases.
Infectious diseases caused by pathogens and food poisoning caused by spoilage microorganisms are threatening human health all over the world. The efficacies of some antimicrobial agents, which are ...currently used to extend shelf-life and increase the safety of food products in food industry and to inhibit disease-causing microorganisms in medicine, have been weakened by microbial resistance. Therefore, new antimicrobial agents that could overcome this resistance need to be discovered. Many spices-such as clove, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, and cumin-possessed significant antibacterial and antifungal activities against food spoilage bacteria like Bacillus subtilis and
, pathogens like Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus, harmful fungi like Aspergillus flavus, even antibiotic resistant microorganisms such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Therefore, spices have a great potential to be developed as new and safe antimicrobial agents. This review summarizes scientific studies on the antibacterial and antifungal activities of several spices and their derivatives.
Obesity is a leading contributor to numerous diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, and cancers. Therefore, seeking effective and safe approaches to control obesity is ...essential. Gut microbiota has been demonstrated to play a critical role in the occurrence of obesity via the regulation of energy metabolism. The composition and abundance of gut microbiota can be altered by the diet. Recently, many dietary plants have been demonstrated to exert anti-obesity effects through bioactive components that modulate gut microbiota, which has drawn increasing research attention.
In this review, the obesity-associated gut microbiota has been summarized and classified into obesogenic and anti-obesity categories. Subsequently, some anti-obesity dietary plants with gut microbiota-modulating activities and the mechanisms of action of their bioactive components are discussed.
The effects of gut microbiota on obesity have been found in most animal and some human studies. Certain strains of Firmicutes, Lactobacillus, and Bacteroidetes are positively associated with obesity development, while Bifidobacterium, most Lactobacillus, and some Bacteroidetes show anti-obesity activities. Some dietary plants, such as grapes, berries, apple, turmeric, chili, soy, sorghum, and barley, show anti-obesity efficacy through increasing the diversity of gut microbiota, up-regulating anti-obesity gut microbiota and down-regulating obesogenic gut microbiota.
This review may stimulate further development of functional foods to treat obesity through modulating gut microbiota. Future work will rely on the exploration of more dietary plants and their components with anti-obesity and gut microbiota-modulating effects, and further investigation of related mechanisms as well as clinical trials.
•The obesogenic and anti-obesogenic gut microbiota are summarized.•The effects of anti-obesity dietary plants on gut microbiota are discussed.•Mechanisms of dietary plants on gut microbiota regulation are highlighted.•Gut microbiota is a promising target to develop anti-obesity functional foods.
Cancers are common chronic diseases worldwide and cause severe health burdens. There have been ongoing debates on the role of gut microbiota in the prevention and management of cancers, thus, it is ...worthwhile to pay high attention to the impacts of gut microbiota on several cancers, such as colon, liver, and breast cancers. In addition, it has been reported that gut microbiota may also affect the efficacy of cancer chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Among all the factors that influence gut microbiota, diet is the most influential and modifiable. The prebiotics, dietary fibers, short-chain fatty acids, and other bioactive compounds are all important dietary components to assist the growth of beneficial microbiota in the gut, which can protect against cancers and promote human health. Their beneficial effects can be due to the fermentation of dietary fibers, the metabolism of phytochemicals, the synthesis of estrogens, and interactions with chemotherapies and immunotherapies. In order to provide updated information of the relationships among dietary components, gut microbiota, and cancer, in this review, we summarize the reciprocal interactions between dietary components and gut microbiota, and highlight the impacts of dietary components on several common cancers by targeting gut microbiota, with the potential mechanisms of actions also intensively discussed. As a result, this review can be very helpful for healthy people as well as cancer patients to prevent or manage cancers via dietary factor-mediated regulation of gut microbiota.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are leading global health problems. Accumulating epidemiological studies have indicated that consuming fruits was inversely related to the risk of CVDs. Moreover, ...substantial experimental studies have supported the protective role of fruits against CVDs, and several fruits (grape, blueberry, pomegranate, apple, hawthorn, and avocado) have been widely studied and have shown potent cardiovascular protective action. Fruits can prevent CVDs or facilitate the restoration of morphology and functions of heart and vessels after injury. The involved mechanisms included protecting vascular endothelial function, regulating lipids metabolism, modulating blood pressure, inhibiting platelets function, alleviating ischemia/reperfusion injury, suppressing thrombosis, reducing oxidative stress, and attenuating inflammation. The present review summarizes recent discoveries about the effects of fruits on CVDs and discusses potential mechanisms of actions based on evidence from epidemiological, experimental, and clinical studies.
Epidemiological studies have shown that vegetable consumption is inversely related to the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, research has indicated that many vegetables like potatoes, ...soybeans, sesame, tomatoes, dioscorea, onions, celery, broccoli, lettuce and asparagus showed great potential in preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, and vitamins, essential elements, dietary fibers, botanic proteins and phytochemicals were bioactive components. The cardioprotective effects of vegetables might involve antioxidation; anti-inflammation; anti-platelet; regulating blood pressure, blood glucose, and lipid profile; attenuating myocardial damage; and modulating relevant enzyme activities, gene expression, and signaling pathways as well as some other biomarkers associated to cardiovascular diseases. In addition, several vegetables and their bioactive components have been proven to protect against cardiovascular diseases in clinical trials. In this review, we analyze and summarize the effects of vegetables on cardiovascular diseases based on epidemiological studies, experimental research, and clinical trials, which are significant to the application of vegetables in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
Our previous study reported that the fruit of
, an edible wild fruit, possessed strong antioxidant activity. In this study, a microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) method was established to extract ...antioxidants from the fruit of
. The influence of five parameters, including ethanol concentration, solvent/material ratio, extraction time, extraction temperature and microwave power, was investigated by single-factor experiments. Three factors, namely ethanol concentration, solvent/material ratio, extraction time, were found to exert a major influence on extraction efficacy, and were further studied by response surface methodology to investigate their interactions. Ethanol concentration of 36.89%, solvent/material ratio of 29.56 mL/g, extraction time of 71.04 min, temperature of 40 °C, and microwave power of 400 W were found to be the optimal condition. The TEAC value was 198.16 ± 5.47 µmol Trolox/g DW under the optimal conditions, which was in conformity to the predicted value (200.28 µmol Trolox/g DW). In addition, the MAE method was compared with two conventional methods (Soxhlet extraction and maceration extraction). Results showed that the antioxidant capacity of the extract obtained by MAE method was stronger than that obtained by maceration (168.67 ± 3.88 µmol Trolox/g DW) or Soxhlet extraction (114.09 ± 2.01 µmol Trolox/g DW). Finally, several phenolic compounds in the extract were identified and quantified by UPLC-MS/MS, which were rutin, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, 2-hydrocinnamic acid,
-coumaric acid, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and ferulic acid.
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