Herbs, spices, grains, legumes, nuts, fruit, vegetables... are rich in chemical compounds: polyphenols. Those consuming diets rich in polyphenols (these are plant forward diets) have better long-term health outcomes for a number of reasons. Polyphenols are one of them.
In this article we introduce key polyphenols, the foods where they are found, the illnesses where they have been shown to have a positive effect and provide a host of studies (bottom, of page) on research that relates to their benefits. As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment.
Polyphenols and Foods
Polyphenols can be grouped into 4 main categories: flavonoids, phenolic acids, polyphenolic amides and others:
Flavonoids are the largest group of polyphenols and are widely recognised for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They may help reduce the risk of heart disease, improve blood circulation, and protect against neurodegenerative conditions. Subclasses include: flavonols (like quercetin), flavanols (catechins), and anthocyanins.
Where? Commonly found in fruits (especially berries, apples, and citrus), onions, tea (green and black), dark chocolate and red wine. Learn more about flavonoids here.
Phenolic Acids, consisting of hydroxybenzoic acids and hydroxycinnamic acids. These polyphenols may support heart health, protect against cancer and improve skin health by protecting against UV damage.
Where? Abundant in coffee, whole grains, fruits like apples and berries; plus vegetables such as tomatoes and carrots. Learn more about phenolic acids here.
Polyphenolic Amides that may aid in reducing the risk of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular conditions, by lowering inflammation.
Where? Primarily found in chile peppers (capsaicinoids), cacao (theobromine) and oats (avenanthramides). Learn more about polyphenolic amides here.
Other Polyphenols include diverse polyphenols such as stilbenes and lignans.
Where? Resveratrol, found in red wine and grapes, is a well known stilbene. It has cardioprotective and anti-aging properties, while curcumin, found in turmeric, is famous for its potent anti-inflammatory and anticancer effects. Lignans, found in flaxseeds, have been linked to hormone regulation and improved cardiovascular health.
Food as medicine? The key benefits of polyphenols come from long-term consumption and exposure, a healthy diet as lifestyle.
Chronic Illnesses
To learn more on the role of polyphenols and chronic illness, click on link below to go to the relevant page:
At bottom of page you will find links to other studies on polyphenols. If you have any suggestions of other studies to include, please add them in the Comments section at bottom of page.
Prioritising Real Food
To get the benefits of polyphenols, we recommend using a whole food approach. It is sometimes easy to get lost in the details of nutritional science, to be overly focused on individual ingredients or nutrients.
Prioritise as wide variety of foods as possible, including vegetables, whole grains and legumes. Eat a rainbow of colours. Enjoy fruit, nuts and seeds on a daily basis; herbs and spices at every opportunity. Be wary of using supplements where the evidence, safety, quality of manufacture or formulation is not as strong as the marketing behind them.
Polyphenols are not a magic health wand. The benefits of a polyphenol rich diet come from daily eating practices, over the course of time. Some people may prefer a Mediterranean style diet, others a similarly plant forward Asian diet. And don't forget to have balance in your longevity lifestyle, self-care and the buliding the foundations of health across physical, mental and social wellbeing is essential.
Stay Healthy,
Alastair
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Related Studies and Resources
Have specific polyphenol questions? Try the online Phenol-Explorer. The database "contains more than 35,000 content values for 500 different polyphenols in over 400 foods. These data are derived from the systematic collection of more than 60,000 original content values found in more than 1,300 scientific publications."
analyses and systematic reviews in blue:
Zupo R, Castellana F, Lisco G, Corbo F, Crupi P, Sardone R, Panza F, Lozupone M, Rondanelli M, Clodoveo ML. Dietary Intake of Polyphenols and All-Cause Mortality: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Metabolites. 2024 Jul 25;14(8):404. doi: 10.3390/metabo14080404. PMID: 39195500; PMCID: PMC11356646.
Rudrapal M, Rakshit G, Singh RP, Garse S, Khan J, Chakraborty S. Dietary Polyphenols: Review on Chemistry/Sources, Bioavailability/Metabolism, Antioxidant Effects, and Their Role in Disease Management. Antioxidants (Basel). 2024 Mar 30;13(4):429. doi: 10.3390/antiox13040429. PMID: 38671877; PMCID: PMC11047380.
Duda-Chodak A, Tarko T. Possible Side Effects of Polyphenols and Their Interactions with Medicines. Molecules. 2023 Mar 10;28(6):2536. doi: 10.3390/molecules28062536. PMID: 36985507; PMCID: PMC10058246.
D'Angelo S. Diet and Aging: The Role of Polyphenol-Rich Diets in Slow Down the Shortening of Telomeres: A Review. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023 Dec 7;12(12):2086. doi: 10.3390/antiox12122086. PMID: 38136206; PMCID: PMC10740764.
Al-Khayri JM, Mascarenhas R, Harish HM, Gowda Y, Lakshmaiah VV, Nagella P, Al-Mssallem MQ, Alessa FM, Almaghasla MI, Rezk AA. Stilbenes, a Versatile Class of Natural Metabolites for Inflammation-An Overview. Molecules. 2023 Apr 28;28(9):3786. doi: 10.3390/molecules28093786. PMID: 37175197; PMCID: PMC10180133.
Aatif M. Current Understanding of Polyphenols to Enhance Bioavailability for Better Therapies. Biomedicines. 2023 Jul 24;11(7):2078. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines11072078. PMID: 37509717; PMCID: PMC10377558.
Xing W, Gao W, Zhao Z, Xu X, Bu H, Su H, Mao G, Chen J. Dietary flavonoids intake contributes to delay biological aging process: analysis from NHANES dataset. J Transl Med. 2023 Jul 21;21(1):492. doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04321-1. PMID: 37480074; PMCID: PMC10362762.
Rana A, Samtiya M, Dhewa T, Mishra V, Aluko RE. Health benefits of polyphenols: A concise review. J Food Biochem. 2022 Oct;46(10):e14264. doi: 10.1111/jfbc.14264. Epub 2022 Jun 13. PMID: 35694805.
Rudrapal M, Khairnar SJ, Khan J, Dukhyil AB, Ansari MA, Alomary MN, Alshabrmi FM, Palai S, Deb PK, Devi R. Dietary Polyphenols and Their Role in Oxidative Stress-Induced Human Diseases: Insights Into Protective Effects, Antioxidant Potentials and Mechanism(s) of Action. Front Pharmacol. 2022 Feb 14;13:806470. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.806470. PMID: 35237163; PMCID: PMC8882865.
Khan J, Khan MZ, Ma Y, Meng Y, Mushtaq A, Shen Q, Xue Y. Overview of the Composition of Whole Grains' Phenolic Acids and Dietary Fibre and Their Effect on Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 5;19(5):3042. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19053042. PMID: 35270737; PMCID: PMC8910396.
Tan TYC, Lim XY, Yeo JHH, Lee SWH, Lai NM. The Health Effects of Chocolate and Cocoa: A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2021 Aug 24;13(9):2909. doi: 10.3390/nu13092909. PMID: 34578786; PMCID: PMC8470865.
Hinojosa-Nogueira D, Pérez-Burillo S, García-Rincón I, Rufián-Henares JA, Pastoriza S. A useful and simple tool to evaluate and compare the intake of total dietary polyphenols in different populations. Public Health Nutr. 2021 Aug;24(12):3818-3824. doi: 10.1017/S136898002100183X. Epub 2021 Apr 27. PMID: 33902787; PMCID: PMC8369462.
Bertelli A, Biagi M, Corsini M, Baini G, Cappellucci G, Miraldi E. Polyphenols: From Theory to Practice. Foods. 2021 Oct 27;10(11):2595. doi: 10.3390/foods10112595. PMID: 34828876; PMCID: PMC8621732.
Domaszewska-Szostek A, Puzianowska-Kuźnicka M, Kuryłowicz A. Flavonoids in Skin Senescence Prevention and Treatment. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jun 25;22(13):6814. doi: 10.3390/ijms22136814. PMID: 34201952; PMCID: PMC8267725.
Aline Medeiros Alves-Santos, Clara Sandra Araújo Sugizaki, Glaucia Carielo Lima, Maria Margareth Veloso Naves, Prebiotic effect of dietary polyphenols: A systematic review, Journal of Functional Foods, Volume 74, 2020, 104169, ISSN 1756-4646, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2020.104169.
Del Bo' C, Bernardi S, Marino M, Porrini M, Tucci M, Guglielmetti S, Cherubini A, Carrieri B, Kirkup B, Kroon P, Zamora-Ros R, Liberona NH, Andres-Lacueva C, Riso P. Systematic Review on Polyphenol Intake and Health Outcomes: Is there Sufficient Evidence to Define a Health-Promoting Polyphenol-Rich Dietary Pattern? Nutrients. 2019 Jun 16;11(6):1355. doi: 10.3390/nu11061355. PMID: 31208133; PMCID: PMC6627994.
Vázquez-Fresno R, Rosana ARR, Sajed T, Onookome-Okome T, Wishart NA, Wishart DS. Herbs and Spices- Biomarkers of Intake Based on Human Intervention Studies - A Systematic Review. Genes Nutr. 2019 May 22;14:18. doi: 10.1186/s12263-019-0636-8. PMID: 31143299; PMCID: PMC6532192.
Vázquez-Fresno R, Rosana ARR, Sajed T, Onookome-Okome T, Wishart NA, Wishart DS. Herbs and Spices- Biomarkers of Intake Based on Human Intervention Studies - A Systematic Review. Genes Nutr. 2019 May 22;14:18. doi: 10.1186/s12263-019-0636-8. PMID: 31143299; PMCID: PMC6532192.
Haldar S, Chia SC, Lee SH, Lim J, Leow MK, Chan ECY, Henry CJ. Polyphenol-rich curry made with mixed spices and vegetables benefits glucose homeostasis in Chinese males (Polyspice Study): a dose-response randomized controlled crossover trial. Eur J Nutr. 2019 Feb;58(1):301-313. doi: 10.1007/s00394-017-1594-9. Epub 2017 Dec 13. PMID: 29236165.
Jiang TA. Health Benefits of Culinary Herbs and Spices. J AOAC Int. 2019 Mar 1;102(2):395-411. doi: 10.5740/jaoacint.18-0418. Epub 2019 Jan 16. PMID: 30651162.
Cory H, Passarelli S, Szeto J, Tamez M, Mattei J. The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review. Front Nutr. 2018 Sep 21;5:87. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2018.00087. PMID: 30298133; PMCID: PMC6160559.
Guldiken B, Ozkan G, Catalkaya G, Ceylan FD, Ekin Yalcinkaya I, Capanoglu E. Phytochemicals of herbs and spices: Health versus toxicological effects. Food Chem Toxicol. 2018 Sep;119:37-49. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2018.05.050. Epub 2018 May 23. PMID: 29802945.
Călinoiu LF, Vodnar DC. Whole Grains and Phenolic Acids: A Review on Bioactivity, Functionality, Health Benefits and Bioavailability. Nutrients. 2018 Nov 1;10(11):1615. doi: 10.3390/nu10111615. PMID: 30388881; PMCID: PMC6265897.
Cory H, Passarelli S, Szeto J, Tamez M, Mattei J. The Role of Polyphenols in Human Health and Food Systems: A Mini-Review. Front Nutr. 2018 Sep 21;5:87. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2018.00087. PMID: 30298133; PMCID: PMC6160559.
Ganesan K, Xu B. Polyphenol-Rich Dry Common Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and Their Health Benefits. Int J Mol Sci. 2017 Nov 4;18(11):2331. doi: 10.3390/ijms18112331. PMID: 29113066; PMCID: PMC5713300.
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