According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dementia is a
syndrome that affects thoughts, memory, the ability to perform day-to-day activities,
and behavior. Alzheimer's disease (AD) corresponds to almost 70% of dementia cases,
affecting mainly the elderly over 60 years old, causing physical, psychological, social,
and economic impacts. Whether of natural or synthetic origin, the polyphenols and
their derivatives have great versatility in terms of biological activity, as can be seen in
the literature, exhibiting different properties, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor,
anti-viral, anti-microbial, and others. Among therapeutic alternatives are polyphenols
and their derivatives as a molecular class broadly studied against neurodegenerative
diseases, including AD. This chapter consists of a literary review of some polyphenols
and derivatives with proven activity against AD, thus showing their importance among
the other molecular classes, when it comes to proposing new bioactive agents against
AD. Many targets are studied for this disease, since the pathogenesis of AD requires
clarification and approved drugs only delay the evolution of the disease, such as
donepezil hydrochloride, galantamine, among others. In addition to encouraging new
studies by relating polyphenols and derivatives targeting AD, this work can assist
research groups by providing some recent studies that have proven this relationship. At
the end of this research, it is possible to realize the importance and applicability of
these compounds in AD.
