Cited by 806Phytochemicals and Antioxidant ActivitiesPhytochemistry and Biological ActivitiesBioactive natural compounds

Therapeutic Potential of Phenolic Compounds in Medicinal Plants—Natural Health Products for Human Health

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Sun, Wenli, Shahrajabian, Mohamad Hesam·2023·Molecules

Abstract

Phenolic compounds and flavonoids are potential substitutes for bioactive agents in pharmaceutical and medicinal sections to promote human health and prevent and cure different diseases. The most common flavonoids found in nature are anthocyanins, flavones, flavanones, flavonols, flavanonols, isoflavones, and other sub-classes. The impacts of plant flavonoids and other phenolics on human health promoting and diseases curing and preventing are antioxidant effects, antibacterial impacts, cardioprotective effects, anticancer impacts, immune system promoting, anti-inflammatory effects, and skin protective effects from UV radiation. This work aims to provide an overview of phenolic compounds and flavonoids as potential and important sources of pharmaceutical and medical application according to recently published studies, as well as some interesting directions for future research. The keyword searches for flavonoids, phenolics, isoflavones, tannins, coumarins, lignans, quinones, xanthones, curcuminoids, stilbenes, cucurmin, phenylethanoids, and secoiridoids medicinal plant were performed by using Web of Science, Scopus, Google scholar, and PubMed. Phenolic acids contain a carboxylic acid group in addition to the basic phenolic structure and are mainly divided into hydroxybenzoic and hydroxycinnamic acids. Hydroxybenzoic acids are based on a C6-C1 skeleton and are often found bound to small organic acids, glycosyl moieties, or cell structural components. Common hydroxybenzoic acids include gallic, syringic, protocatechuic, p-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, gentistic, and salicylic acids. Hydroxycinnamic acids are based on a C6-C3 skeleton and are also often bound to other molecules such as quinic acid and glucose. The main hydroxycinnamic acids are caffeic, p-coumaric, ferulic, and sinapic acids.

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  • Phytochemicals like alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids have demonstrated potential in addressing neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease by combating oxidative stress, minimizing inflammation, and protecting neurons.

    “Phytochemicals like alkaloids, flavonoids, and terpenoids have demonstrated potential in addressing neurodegenerative diseases (NNDs), including AD, by combating oxidative stress, minimizing inflammation, and protecting neurons [13,14].”

    From Cholinesterase Inhibitors from Plants and Their Potential in Alzheimer’s Treatment: Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as [14]

    The Resveratrol section (no page supplied) reports neuroprotective effects through antioxidant and anti-inflammatory pathways and potential application to Alzheimer’s disease; the Conclusions also identify neuroprotective potential among the benefits of phenolic compounds. But the paper does not extend that neurodegenerative-disease claim to all three named groups: its Introduction mentions alkaloids and terpenoids in connection with diabetes, not neuronal protection. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  1. [54]De la Rosa L.A. Moreno-Escamilla J.O. Rodrigo-Garcia J. Alvarez-Parrilla E. Chapter 12—Henolic Compounds Postharvest Physiology and Biochemistry of Fruits and Vegetables Yahia E.M. Woodhead Publishing Sawston, UK 2019 253 271 10.1016/b978-0-12-813278-4.00012-9 · DOI
  2. [98]Golkar P. Fotoohi A. Preliminar phytochemical screening of the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of six Plantago species from Iran J. Plant Process Funct. 2021 10 1 10 10.1096/fasebj.21.6.a864 · DOI
  3. [106]Castillo-Lopez R.I. Leon-Felix J. Angulo-Escalante M.A. Gutierrez-Dorado R. Muy-Rangel M.D. Heredia J.B. Nutritional and phenolic characterization of Moringa oleifera leaves grown in Sinaloa, Mexico Pak. J. Bot. 2017 49 161 168 10.1590/1806-9061-2017-0410 · DOI

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Authors
Sun, W., & Shahrajabian, M. H.
Affiliations
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CN)
Corresponding author
Sun, Wenli
Venue
Molecules
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2023-02-15
Volume
28
Issue
4
Pages
1845
ISSN
1420-3049 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4321100837
Cited by
806
References
521
Citations by year
2026: 240 · 2025: 316 · 2024: 188 · 2023: 60 · 2022: 1
FWCI
15.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Molecules (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing, China (M21026, 2019YFA0904700)
  • the National Key R&D Program of China (M21026, 2019YFA0904700)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Phytochemistry and Biological Activities
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Bioactive natural compounds
Keywords
phenolic compounds, flavonoids, medicinal plants, natural health products, antioxidant activity, antibacterial activity, cardioprotection, anticancer activity, anti-inflammatory activity, UV protection, isoflavones, tannins, coumarins, hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, gallic acid, caffeic acid, curcuminoids, stilbenes, phenylethanoids, secoiridoids, disease prevention
MeSH terms
Anthocyanins, Antioxidants, Coumaric Acids, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Flavonoids, Humans, Isoflavones, Phenols, Plants, Medicinal, Hydroxybenzoates

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