Title:Polyphenols’ Effect on Cerebrovascular Health
Volume: 29
Issue: 6
Author(s): Luis Goya, Ricardo San Román and Sonia de Pascual-Teresa*
Affiliation:
- Department of Metabolism and Nutrition, Institute of Food Science, Food Technology and Nutrition
(ICTAN), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Jose Antonio Novais 10, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Keywords:
Polyphenol, cerebral blood flow, neuroprotection, mechanism, biomarker, cerebrovascular.
Abstract: Polyphenols are a wide group of plant components that include a high number
of individual compounds and are present in foods, dietary supplements, and drugs. Many
of them have shown pharmacological effects, are used in cardiovascular disease prevention,
and not as many have been assayed in cancer treatment or co-treatment. In the last
few years, however, the research on polyphenols' implications in healthy aging, especially
in neurodegeneration and cognition improvement, has increased dramatically. Most of
the results found in this sense are again related to the capacity of some specific polyphenols
to regulate the blood flow, but this time at the cerebral level, and to protect the
endothelium at this same level. In this thorough review, we want to concentrate precisely
on the effect of polyphenols on cerebrovascular homeostasis, reviewing the mechanisms
that underline this effect and the radiological methods and endogenous biomarkers that
are used in human trials aimed at showing the beneficial effect of polyphenols or polyphenol
rich foods on neuroprotection and cognition function.
