There are many different ways to categorize thousands of phytochemicals we know today. Nutritionists tend to categorize them by their possible health effects in the human body. Another way of organizing phytochemicals is into groups that share a similar chemical structure.
It is common that phytochemicals in the same class also share similar effects on the human body. Such classes of phytochemicals include:. Sometimes also referred to as phenolic compounds, phenols are a large class of phytochemicals, some of which are associated with antioxidant properties and are believed to lower the risk of heart disease and cancer. Phenols have a chemical structure that includes one or more hydroxyl groups attached to an aromatic ring.
When more than one hydroxyl group is involved, we speak of polyphenols. Examples of phenolic phytochemicals include:. This large class includes phytochemicals believed to possess antioxidant properties and associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. Terpenes may be identified as hydrocarbons that come from isoprene which is the major type of hydrocarbon emitted by plants and trees.
This class of phytochemicals includes:. Thiols organosulfur compounds. It is recommended take daily at least 5 to 9 servings of fruits or vegetable. Fruits and vegetables are also rich in minerals, vitamins and fibre and low in saturated fat. Future of phytochemicals Phytochemicals are naturally present in many foods but it is expected that through bioengineering new plants will be developed, which will contain higher levels.
This would make it easier to incorporate enough phytochemicals with our food. Plants with phytochemicals. List of phytochemicals. Phytochemical tips. Resources about phytochemicals. Scientists have noted that anthocyanins in different kinds of fruit are considered an essential compound that can enrich and increase antioxidant activity Figure 1 C. Tannins are natural products present in several plant families, and have large amounts of phenolic rings in the structure. Tannins are classified into two groups: hydrolyzable and condensed.
Condensed tannins contain flavonoids units with several degrees of condensation. Hydrolyzable tannins are considered a mixture of simple phenols with ester linkages in its structure. There are many factors such as alkaline compounds, mineral acids, and enzymes that have the ability to hydrolyze tannins Figure 1 D [ ]. Cancer has been increasing throughout the world.
It is the main cause of mortality from year to year. There were As shown previously, fruits and vegetables are the primary source of natural antioxidants, consisting of different kinds of antioxidant compounds such as Vitamin C, Vitamin E, carotenoids, lutein, and lycopene. Some researchers have confirmed that phenolic compounds and polyphenols are secondary plant metabolites, which are considered the best scavengers to prevent the production of free radicals.
The United States has an amazing diversity of plant species. Some of them have been used for traditional medicines for a long period of time because of their various desirable activities. Kiwi and pomegranate plants extracts were screened to show the cytotoxic effects on two tumor cell lines L20B and RD. The mixtures of the plant natural products have been screened in order to study their effect on human leukemia cells [ ]. The finding confirmed that mixtures of natural products were a good source for human leukemia cell inhibition.
Nassr-allah et al. DPPH assay was used to measure the antioxidant activity for plant extraction while using in vivo and vitro methods in order to measure the anticancer activity.
The results confirmed that some natural products from Egyptian flora have the potential for use as therapeutics for diseases such as cancer [ ].
The effectiveness of an aqueous extract from willow leaves Salix safsaf , Salicaceae against human carcinoma cells has been tested in vivo and in vitro [ ]. The findings mentioned that the metabolites for the willow extract could inhibit tumors, thereby enhancing apoptosis and causing DNA damage.
The anticancer activity of different extracts from the leaves of the drumstick tree Moringa oleifera was screened in order to test against leukemia and hepatocarcinoma cells in vitro. Primary cells harvested from 10 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia ALL and 15 with acute myeloid leukemia AML were significantly killed by hot water and ethanol extracts. Thus, Moringa oleifera may have the potential for use as a natural treatment for diseases such as cancer [ ]. Altemimi reported that the phenolic extracts from the olive leaf extract could be used as a source of potential antioxidant and antimicrobial agents [ ].
The antibacterial activity of Punica granatum extracts has been investigated by using various solvents [ ]. The water extract had the ability to inhibit Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus , but the organic solvents have the ability to inhibit the growth of all the organisms tested. Shariff et al. The chloroform extract was a more powerful inhibitor of pathogenic bacteria [ ].
Indian medicinal plants have been shown to have antimicrobial activity [ ]. About 77 extracts belonging to these plants have been tested for their antimicrobial ability against eight species of bacteria and four species of pathogenic fungi.
The findings showed that water extracts of Lantana camara L. The antimicrobial activity was the highest, ranging between 9. Devi et al. The antibacterial ability of the ethanol extract effectively inhibited Bacillus subtilis , Salmonella typhi , and Klebsiella pneumoniae , but was less effective against Pseudomonas species and Staphylococcus aureus [ ].
Ethanolic extracts of Gymnema montanum L. The results indicated the highest presence of antimicrobial properties in the leaf extract of G. The antimicrobial activity of Piper ribesoides L. Interestingly, a small amount of 3. Leaf extracts of Caesalpinnia pulcherrimma L. Torilis japonica L. Ghosh et al.
The findings confirmed that Staphylococcus aureus was more susceptible than others [ 24 ]. Mahesh and Satish screened some important medicinal plants to show the antibacterial activity on human pathogenic bacteria [ ].
Water and methanol were used as solvents to extract the phenolic compounds. The finding confirmed that the methanol extract had a higher antimicrobial activity than the aqueous extract [ ].
Moreover, leaf extracts of Acacia nilotica L. The highest antibacterial activity was noticed in Acacia nilotica and Sida cordifoliain leaves, and the highest antifungal activity was noticed in Acacia nilotica bark.
Water and methanol extracts of Samanea saman Jacq. Pseudarthria viscida root has been studied to measure its antimicrobial activity using ethanol as a solvent. The results showed high antimicrobial activity when compared to standard drugs like ciprofloxacin and griseofulvin.
Ehsan et al. Ethanolic extracts of Bryonopsis laciniosa have been investigated for their antimicrobial activity against different Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The growth of Staphylococcus aureus , Micrococus luteus , and Bacillus cereus was inhibited, as shown by a decrease in the growth zone.
Plumbago zeylanica L. However, Bacillus subtilis and Klebsiella were resistant. Khond et al. The higher antibacterial activities were in the extracts of Madhuca longifolia L.
Pavithra et al. Hygrophila spinosa Andres leaves showed significant antibacterial activity when collected between September to October, with less activity seen during other months [ ].
Artemisia pallens L. The results found that Bacillus cereus was more sensitive to A. Also, a methanolic extract exhibited higher antibacterial activity than the other solvents used. Akroum indicated the antimicrobial activity of some Algerian plants [ ]. The results expressed higher antibacterial activity in methanolic extracts of Linum capitatum , Camellia sinensis , Allium schoenoprasum , Vicia faba , Citrus paradise , Lippia citriodora , Vaccinium macrocarpon , and Punica granatum.
Bajpai et al. The results exhibited significant inhibition compared to streptomycin. It has been demonstrated that Memecylon edule has higher antibacterial activity in chloroform extracts compared to other extracts [ ].
Gram-negative bacteria were more susceptible to the crude extracts compared to Gram-positive bacteria. Bansal et al. An ethanolic extract of Tinospora cordifolia L.
Kumar et al. Memecylon malabaricum , Cochlospermum religiosum, and Andrographis serpyllifolia have been rested for their possible antimicrobial activity [ , ]. Moderate activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria was observed. The antimicrobial activity of an ethanolic extract of Anethum graveolens was better than the aqueous extract.
Khanahmadi et al. Koperuncholan et al. Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive than Gram-negative bacteria to the plant extracts. Niranjan et al. Water and methanol extracts were most effective to prohibit growth of all the harmful bacteria tested.
Different studies have isolated tannins and saponins from some Indian medicinal plants, testing the antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae [ , ].
Ethanol extracts of Tinospora cordifolia strongly inhibited Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. Also, significant antibacterial activity from ethanolic extracts of Coleus aromaticus L. Vinothkumar et al. The results found that aqueous extracts inhibited harmful microbes [ ].
A positive effect of pumpkin has been observed by investigating its antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus , Bacillus subtillus , Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas. Three different solvents were used to prepare the extracts: water, chloroform, and alcohol.
The results showed that the alcohol extract was more powerful than both water and chloroform extracts. Staphylococcus aureus was sensitive to all extracts. Recently, the novel antimicrobial activity of ultrasonicated spinach leaf extracts using random amplification of polymorphic DNA RAPD markers and electron microscopy against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria has been revealed [ ].
RAPD is an emerging technique used for diagnostic mutation detection within a genome. The study showed that the treated bacterial cells appeared to be damaged by a reduction in cell number. In fact, it was inferred that spinach leaf extracts exert bactericidal activity by inducing mutations in DNA and causing cell wall disruptions.
In summary, plant extracts showed strong antioxidant capacity both in vitro and in vivo, and the extracts can be considered a good source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials.
Polyphenol extraction from plants using fast and appropriate techniques is a low-cost method due to the reduction in the amount of solvent used, in addition to avoiding the need for longer extraction times compared to the conventional extraction method.
Moreover, natural bioactive compounds have been found to interfere with and prevent all kinds of cancer. Flavonoids have been shown to work as anti-tumor benign, melanoma agents involving a free radicals quenching mechanism i. In fact, many studies have shown that flavonoids play significant multiple roles including mutagenic, cell damage, and carcinogenic, due to their acceleration of different aging factors.
In addition to antioxidant activity, the inhibition of cancer development by phenolic compounds relies on a number of basic cellular mechanisms.
More comprehensive studies related to these compounds will enhance pharmaceutical exploration in the field of carcinogenic disease prevention. The following are available online at www.
Ammar Altemimi drafted the manuscript; Naoufal Lakhssassi and Azam Baharlouei edited the manuscript and made the corresponding figures and tables; Dennis G. Watson and David A. Lightfoot edited and commented on the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. Journal List Plants Basel v. Plants Basel. Published online Sep Watson , 2 and David A. Lightfoot 2. Find articles by Naoufal Lakhssassi. Find articles by Azam Baharlouei.
Dennis G. Find articles by Dennis G. David A. Find articles by David A. Ulrike Mathesius, Academic Editor. Author information Article notes Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Received Jul 19; Accepted Sep This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Associated Data Supplementary Materials plantss Abstract There are concerns about using synthetic phenolic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxytoluene BHT and butylated hydroxyanisole BHA as food additives because of the reported negative effects on human health.
Keywords: antimicrobial, antioxidants, medicinal plants, BHT. Introduction Many antioxidant compounds can be found in fruits and vegetables including phenolics, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and tocopherols [ 1 ]. Extraction of Phenolic Compounds Using Solvents Scientists have studied and analyzed the impact of different types of solvents, such as methanol, hexane, and ethyl alcohol, for the purpose of antioxidant extraction from various plants parts, such as leaves and seeds.
Microwave-Assisted Extraction MAE MAE has attracted the attention of researchers as a technique to extract bioactive compounds from a wide variety of plants and natural residues [ 12 ]. Table 1 Comparison of methods for assessing antioxidant capacity based upon mechanism, endpoint, quantitation method, and whether the assay is adaptable to measure lipophilic and hydrophilic antioxidants.
Open in a separate window. Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction Ultrasound-assisted extraction UAE has been used in diverse applications of food-processing technology to extract bioactive compounds from plant materials [ 19 ].
Techniques of Isolation and Purification of Bioactive Molecules from Plants Purification and isolation of bioactive compounds from plants is a technique that has undergone new development in recent years [ 28 , 29 ]. Purification of the Bioactive Molecule Many bioactive molecules have been isolated and purified by using paper thin-layer and column chromatographic methods.
UV-Visible Spectroscopy UV-visible spectroscopy can be performed for qualitative analysis and for identification of certain classes of compounds in both pure and biological mixtures. Infrared Spectroscopy Some of the frequencies will be absorbed when infrared light passes through a sample of an organic compound; however, some frequencies will be transmitted through the sample without any absorption occurring. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy NMR NMR is primarily related to the magnetic properties of certain atomic nuclei; notably the nucleus of the hydrogen atom, the proton, the carbon, and an isotope of carbon.
Mass Spectrometry for Chemical Compounds Identification Organic molecules are bombarded with either electrons or lasers in mass spectrometry and thereby converted to charged ions, which are highly energetic. Lipid Oxidation Lipid oxidation can occur during the processing, shipping, and storing of many foods. Lipid oxidation caused by the chain reaction of free radicals can be illustrated in three stages: initiation, propagation, and termination [ 42 ]: 1.
Plants as a Source of Antioxidants Antioxidants can be defined as bioactive compounds that inhibit or delay the oxidation of molecules [ 42 ].
Presence of Antioxidant in Red Algae Red algae are aquatic plant species considered one of the oldest groups of eukaryotic algae [ 55 ]. Antioxidants from Monocots Ashawat et al. Antioxidants from Vegetables Consumption of vegetables has been linked to a reduction in the risk of many diseases, such as cancer and cardiovascular disease, when studied in epidemiological studies [ 59 ].
Antioxidants from Fruits Fruit consumption has also been linked to a reduction in the risk of many diseases [ 61 ]. Cooking Herbs as an Important Source of Antioxidants The antioxidant activity of 32 herbs belonging to 21 different families has been screened [ 76 ].
Antioxidant from Legumes Antioxidant property of methanol extracts of Mucuna pruriens L. Antioxidants from Trees Antioxidants from trees have been also measured. Antioxidant from Shrubs Many shrubs have been shown to contain antioxidant activity. Characterization of Antioxidants from Other Eudicots The nitric oxide and superoxide scavenging activity of green tea have been studied by Nakagawa and Yokozawa [ 88 ], who concluded that certain tannins had the ability to exhibit excellent antioxidant activity.
Plants Vitamins and Phenolic Compounds as Antioxidants 5. Phenolic Compounds 5. Phenols and Phenolic Acid Phenolic acids contain carboxylic acid in the chemical composition.
Figure 1. Flavonoids Flavonoids have a low molecular weight Figure 1 B. Anthocyanins Anthocyanidins are a simple example of anthocyanins. Tannins Tannins are natural products present in several plant families, and have large amounts of phenolic rings in the structure. Vitamins Role in Cancer Prevention Cancer has been increasing throughout the world. Plants as an Antimicrobial Source The antibacterial activity of Punica granatum extracts has been investigated by using various solvents [ ].
Conclusions In summary, plant extracts showed strong antioxidant capacity both in vitro and in vivo, and the extracts can be considered a good source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials. Supplementary Materials The following are available online at www. Click here for additional data file.
Author Contributions Ammar Altemimi drafted the manuscript; Naoufal Lakhssassi and Azam Baharlouei edited the manuscript and made the corresponding figures and tables; Dennis G. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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Ballard T. Microwave-assisted extraction of phenolic antioxidant compounds from peanut skins. Kingston H. Introduction to Microwave Sample Preparation. Thus, supplementing with only a few may impair the functions of other phytochemicals or micronutrients.
As with the antioxidant vitamins, it is the mixture and variety of phytochemicals in foods that are linked to health benefits. Bacciottini, L. Phytoestrogens: Food or drug? Clinical Cases in Mineral and Bone Metabolism , 4 2 , — Bagchi, D. Anti-angiogenic, antioxidant, and anti-carcinogenic properties of a novel anthocyanin-rich berry extract formula. Biokhimiia , 69 1 , 75—80, 1 p preceding Linus Pauling Institute. Goto, T. PPAR Research , Higdon, J.
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