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      Bioactive Compounds and Biological Functions of Garlic ( Allium sativum L.)

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          Abstract

          Garlic ( Allium sativum L.) is a widely consumed spice in the world. Garlic contains diverse bioactive compounds, such as allicin, alliin, diallyl sulfide, diallyl disulfide, diallyl trisulfide, ajoene, and S-allyl-cysteine. Substantial studies have shown that garlic and its bioactive constituents exhibit antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal, immunomodulatory, cardiovascular protective, anticancer, hepatoprotective, digestive system protective, anti-diabetic, anti-obesity, neuroprotective, and renal protective properties. In this review, the main bioactive compounds and important biological functions of garlic are summarized, highlighting and discussing the relevant mechanisms of actions. Overall, garlic is an excellent natural source of bioactive sulfur-containing compounds and has promising applications in the development of functional foods or nutraceuticals for the prevention and management of certain diseases.

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          Absorption, metabolism, anti-cancer effect and molecular targets of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG): An updated review.

          Green tea is one of the most popular beverages in the world, especially in Asian countries. Consumption of green tea has been demonstrated to possess many health benefits, which mainly attributed to the main bioactive compound epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a flavone-3-ol polyphenol, in green tea. EGCG is mainly absorbed in the intestine, and gut microbiota play a critical role in its metabolism prior to absorption. EGCG exhibits versatile bioactivities, with its anti-cancer effect most attracting due to the cancer preventive effect of green tea consumption, and a great number of studies intensively investigated its anti-cancer effect. In this review, we therefore, first stated the absorption and metabolism process of EGCG, and then summarized its anti-cancer effect in vitro and in vivo, including its manifold anti-cancer actions and mechanisms, especially its anti-cancer stem cell effect, and next highlighted its various molecular targets involved in cancer inhibition. Finally, the anti-cancer effect of EGCG analogs and nanoparticles, as well as the potential cancer promoting effect of EGCG were also discussed. Understanding of the absorption, metabolism, anti-cancer effect and molecular targets of EGCG can be of importance to better utilize it as a chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agent.
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            Dietary Natural Products for Prevention and Treatment of Liver Cancer

            Liver cancer is the most common malignancy of the digestive system with high death rate. Accumulating evidences suggests that many dietary natural products are potential sources for prevention and treatment of liver cancer, such as grapes, black currant, plum, pomegranate, cruciferous vegetables, French beans, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, turmeric, ginger, soy, rice bran, and some edible macro-fungi. These dietary natural products and their active components could affect the development and progression of liver cancer in various ways, such as inhibiting tumor cell growth and metastasis, protecting against liver carcinogens, immunomodulating and enhancing effects of chemotherapeutic drugs. This review summarizes the potential prevention and treatment activities of dietary natural products and their major bioactive constituents on liver cancer, and discusses possible mechanisms of action.
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              Bioactivity, Health Benefits, and Related Molecular Mechanisms of Curcumin: Current Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives

              Curcumin is a principal curcuminoid of turmeric (Curcuma longa), which is commonly used as a spice in cooking and a yellow pigment in the food processing industry. Recent studies have demonstrated that curcumin has a variety of biological activities and pharmacological performances, providing protection and promotion of human health. In addition to presenting an overview of the gut metabolism of curcumin, this paper reviews the current research progress on its versatile bioactivity, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-regulatory activities, and also intensively discusses its health benefits, including the protective or preventive effects on cancers and diabetes, as well as the liver, nervous system, and cardiovascular systems, highlighting the potential molecular mechanisms. Besides, the beneficial effects of curcumin on human are further stated based on clinical trials. Considering that there is still a debate on the beneficial effects of curcumin, we also discuss related challenges and prospects. Overall, curcumin is a promising ingredient of novel functional foods, with protective efficacy in preventing certain diseases. We hope this comprehensive and updated review will be helpful for promoting human-based studies to facilitate its use in human health and diseases in the future.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Foods
                Foods
                foods
                Foods
                MDPI
                2304-8158
                05 July 2019
                July 2019
                : 8
                : 7
                : 246
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Nutrition, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510080, China
                [2 ]Department of Food Science & Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
                [3 ]Institute of Urban Agriculture, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chengdu 610213, China
                [4 ]DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, US/SAMRC Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town 8000, South Africa
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: renyougan@ 123456sjtu.edu.cn (R.-Y.G.); lihuabin@ 123456mail.sysu.edu.cn (H.-B.L.); Tel.: +86-21-3420-8517 (R.-Y.G.); +86-20-873-323-91 (H.-B.L.)
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4162-1511
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4672-6176
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2332-8554
                Article
                foods-08-00246
                10.3390/foods8070246
                6678835
                31284512
                05f24a94-7238-49ee-952d-31c025521ed4
                © 2019 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 27 May 2019
                : 04 July 2019
                Categories
                Review

                garlic,phytochemicals,organic sulfides,health benefits,antioxidant,anticancer,cardiovascular protection,antimicrobial

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