ReviewAdvances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)2014
Polyphenols and the human brain: plant “secondary metabolite” ecologic roles and endogenous signaling functions drive benefits.
Review in Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 118 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medicinal Plants and Their Impact on the Gut Microbiome in Mental Health: A Systematic Review.Nutrients · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- Acute and Chronic Effects of Green Oat (Nutrients · 2020Trial
- Trial
- Low Brain Levels of Dietary Polyphenols and Their Conjugates: Reassessing Mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease Prevention.Journal of dementia and alzheimer's disease · 2026Article
- Neurotoxicity of heavy metals across the lifespan: The beneficial role of nutrition from fetus to the elderly.Advances in neurotoxicology · 2026Article
- Polyphenol-Enriched Extracts from Leaves of Mediterranean Plants as Natural Inhibitors of Monoamine Oxidase (MAO)-A and MAO-B Enzymes.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Food Preservatives and the Rising Tide of Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Mechanisms, Controversies, and Emerging Innovations.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Standardization of Germinated Oat Extracts and Their Neuroprotective Effects Against AβMolecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Oral Health and Nutraceutical Agents.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Hinokiflavone resists HFD-induced obesity by promoting apoptosis in an IGF2BP2-mediated Bim mThe Journal of biological chemistry · 2024Article
- A Review of the Anti-Obesity Effects of Wild Edible Plants in the Mediterranean Diet and Their Active Compounds: From Traditional Uses to Action Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- Article
- Eupatilin improves cilia defects in human CEP290 ciliopathy models.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Effect of including a dietary supplement of raisins, a food rich in polyphenols, on cognitive function in healthy older adults; a study protocol for a randomized clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Article
- Dietary (poly)phenols mitigate inflammatory bowel disease: Therapeutic targets, mechanisms of action, and clinical observations.Current research in food science · 2023Review
- Nutritional, functional, and bioactive properties of african underutilized legumes.Frontiers in plant science · 2023Review
- Mental Performance and Sport: Caffeine and Co-consumed Bioactive Ingredients.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2022Review
- Effect of Polyphenolic Complements on Cognitive Function in the Elderly: A Systematic Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Flavonoids and other polyphenols are ubiquitous plant chemicals that fulfill a range of ecologic roles for their home plant, including protection from a range of biotic and abiotic stressors and a pivotal role in the management of pathogenic and symbiotic soil bacteria and fungi. They form a natural part of the human diet, and evidence suggests that their consumption is associated with the beneficial modulation of a number of health-related variables, including those related to cardiovascular and brain function. Over recent years, the consensus as to the mechanisms responsible for these effects in humans has shifted away from polyphenols having direct antioxidant effects and toward their modulation of cellular signal transduction pathways. To date, little consideration has been given to the question of why, rather than how, these plant-derived chemicals might exert these effects. Therefore, this review summarizes the evidence suggesting that polyphenols beneficially affect human brain function and describes the current mechanistic hypotheses explaining these effects. It then goes on to describe the ecologic roles and potential endogenous signaling functions that these ubiquitous phytochemicals play within their home plant and discusses whether these functions drive their beneficial effects in humans via a process of “cross-kingdom” signaling predicated on the many conserved similarities in plant, microbial, and human cellular signal transduction pathways.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.