Nature’s best medicine for everyone -Dietary Flavonoids

Abstract

Flavonoids consist of most common class of plant polyphenols and provide colour and flavour to fruits and vegetables. Around 4500 different flavonoids have been identified. The six major sub-classes of flavonoids include the flavones (e.g., apigenin), flavonols (e.g., myricetin), flavanones (e.g., naringenin), flavanols or catechins (e.g., epicatechin), anthocyanidins (e.g., cyanidin), and isoflavones (e.g., daidzein). Flavonoids present in plants are normally attached to sugars moieties (glycosides), occasionally they are found as aglycones (absence of sugar molecule). Significance of flavonoids has increased because of their possible health benefits namely antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardio protective, anti-diabetic and so on been proved in vitro. The bioavailability and absorption of specific flavonoids are much higher than originally seen. Since, there are many biological activities attributed to the flavonoids, some of which could be beneficial or detrimental depending on specific circumstances that need to be studied. Our present review focuses some of the important plant sources, classifications and different pharmacological activities of dietary flavonoids in detail.