Natural polyphenols as anti-inflammatory agents

Epidemiological studies have clearly shown thatdiets rich in plant foods protect human against degenerativediseases. Plant foods contain fiber, vitamins andpolyphenols which can contribute to the health effects.Polyphenols, plant secondary metabolites, represents awide variety of compounds, with different chemicalstructures and activities. These compounds possess severalbiological functions, such as antioxidant, antiinflammation,and anticancer activities, able to counteractendogenous and exogenous biological stimuli. Recently,there is also increasing evidence for many potential benefitsthrough polyphenolic-mediated regulation of cellularprocesses such as inflammation. Polyphenols, in fact, mayact as inflammation modulatory agents by variousmechanism, including down-regulation of NFkB, release ofinflammatory mediators, chromatin remodeling, or thevarious enzymes involved, by inhibition of the activity ofthose enzymes, or by increasing the cells ability toscavenge ROS. So the polyphenols may be perceived asfuture pharmacological agents and may be used asantioxidant and anti-inflammatory enforcements to combatoxidative challenges.However, future studies are requiredto understand the effect of polyphenols on the pathology ofdifferent inflammatory disease states.