Plant Origin Phenolics as Prospective Antioxidants: State-of-Art for Application

Abstract

In the recent years there is a growing demand for plant origin antioxidants, due to their potential therapeutic value and low level of side effects. Among the plant origin substances, the metabolites with antioxidant activity are the widely used which are mainly belong to the phenolic group of compounds as well as carotenoids and vitamins. These natural antioxidants act via different mechanisms: they can decrease the level of oxidative damage in cells directly reacting with free radicals or indirectly by inhibition the activity and expression of free radical generating enzymes or enhancing the activity or expression of intracellular antioxidant defense enzymes. The manuscript is focused on the main group of phenolics which can be used in pharmacological, food and other areas. Keywords—antioxidants, plant born metabolites, phenolics,