Polyphenols, members of phytochemical superfamily rich in vegetables and fruits,
include flavonoids, non-flavonoids, and phenolic acids. Their biological effects
includes classical antioxidation (e.g., radical-scavenging, metal chelating, NOX
inhibition, attenuation on mitochondrial respiration, inhibition on xanthine
oxidase, and upregulations on endogenous antioxidant enzymes), multiple
regulations on cell signaling (e.g., AMPK activation, SirT1 activation, eNOS
activation, FOXO activation, NFB inactivation, PI3K/AkT inhibition,
mTORC1 inhibition, PKC inhibition, MAPK inhibition, ERK inhibition, JAK/STAT
inhibition, IKK/JNK inhibition, PDE inhibition, -catenin inactivation,
downregulation on TLR expression, ACE inhibition, adiponectin elevation,
attenuated ET-1 production, and K channel activation), and many other
actions (e.g., inhibition on -glucosidase, anticoagulation,
-secretase inhibition, monoamine oxidase inhibition, LPL upregulation,
ANGPTL4 suppression, upregulation on paraoxonase 1, PAI-1 downregulation, tPA
upregulation, immunoregulation, epigenetic modulation, and altered gut
microbiota). Such multi- targeting and functions exhibiting antioxidative stress
and antiinflammation as major pillars along with many other antagonisms could not
only afford healthy polyphenols suitable supplements for promoting health, but
also advance them to therapeutic applications. This review aims to translate
diverse polyphenolic biochemical actions to clinical applications in fighting
against non-communicable diseases such as CVD, cancer, diabetes, obesity,
neurodegeneration, inflammatory diseases (e.g., IBD, IBS, NAFLD, etc.),
AMD, allergy, and autoimmunity as well as communicable infection (e.g., bacteria,
fungal, and viral).