This perspective and the scientific data supporting it are discussed in Chapter The inflammatory process is a major response mechanism in the human body. Once this process is dysregulated, a major impairing in health can occur. In Chapter 11, the mechanism by which anthocyanins act as anti-inflammatory compounds on affect key molecules and pathways are described.

Neurodegenerative diseases, particularly during aging, are a major concern due to severe limitations related to memory and motion.

Chapter 12 is dedicated to disclose the role and mechanisms related to neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, this chapter also presents the concepts and scientific data regarding the brain bioavailability of anthocyanins.

The benefits associated with anthocyanins are not limited to reduce the risk associated with diseases, these compounds are also relevant dietary supplements for athletes. The role on the reduction of oxidative stress and in the performance of athletes and physically active people is discussed in Chapter Imprint: Nova Medicine and Health.

Chapter 1. Anthocyanins: Health Benefits and Potential Use as Functional Ingredient: A Review Gema Nieto, Department of Food Technology, Food Science and Nutrition, Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia, University of Murcia, Espinardo, Murcia, Spain.

Chapter 2. Extractions of Anthocyanins: Conventional and Novel Technologies M. Serrano, T. Landete-Castillejos, A. García, L. Chonco and J. Lorenzo, Animal Science Techniques Applied to Wildlife Management Research Group, Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Albacete, Spain, and others.

Chapter 3. Identification, Quantification, and Method Validation of Anthocyanins A. Pereira, M. Fraga, P. Oliveira, C. Jimenez-Lopez, C. Lourenço-Lopes, Lillian Barros, Isabel C. Ferreira, M. Prieto and J. Simal-Gandara, Nutrition and Bromatology Group, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Department of Analytical and Food Chemistry, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain, and others.

Chapter 4. Preservation of Anthocyanin-Rich Extracts: Encapsulation and Related Technologies Nicoleta Stănciuc, Iuliana Aprodu and Gabriela Râpeanu, Faculty of Food Science and Engineering, Dunarea de Jos University of Galați, Galați, Romania. Chapter 5. Consumption, Bioacessibility, Bioavailability of Anthocyanins and Their Interactions with Gut Microbiota Gizem Catalkaya, Fatma Duygu Ceylan, Gulay Ozkan, Burcu Guldiken and Esra Capanoglu, Faculty of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Department of Food Engineering, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey.

Chapter 6. Anthocyanins in Folk Medicine: Local Traditions, Sources, Compounds and Related Aspects Clemencia Chaves-Lopez, Yeimmy Peralta-Ruiz, Junior Bernardo Molina Hernandez, Johannes Delgado Ospina, Carlos David Grande Tovar and Antonello Paparella, Faculty of Bioscience and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy, and others.

Chapter 7. In Vitro and in Vivo Antioxidant Activity of Antocyanins Maria López-Pedrouso, Danijela Bursać Kovačević, Diana Oliveira, Predrag Putnik, Andres Moure, José M. Lorenzo, Herminia Domínguez and Daniel Franco, Department of Zoology, Genetics and Physical Anthropology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain, and others.

Chapter 8. Anthocyanins and Cardiovascular Diseases R. Red, purple , and blue fruits and vegetables typically boast the highest amount of anthocyanins. The following foods contain the most anthocyanins per 3.

Other anthocyanin-rich foods include purple corn, pomegranate , eggplant, black carrots, red cabbage, and purple cauliflower, which may provide anywhere from a few to — mg per 3. The anthocyanin content of these foods varies so widely because growing area, climate, season, light exposure, harvest time, and storing temperature all affect antioxidant content 6.

Amounts may also depend on whether foods are fresh, frozen, or dried — the last of which typically has the lowest anthocyanin content 7.

To maximize your intake of anthocyanins from these foods, eat them raw and at their ripest if possible. Red, blue, and purple produce is generally the richest in anthocyanins. Raw, ripe varieties tend to have the highest amounts due to variability in this nutrient.

Anthocyanins have antioxidant properties, meaning that they fight damaging compounds called free radicals. When free radicals accumulate in your body, they cause oxidative stress.

In turn, this oxidative stress leads to inflammation and may increase your risk of chronic ailments, such as cancer and heart disease 3 , 4.

Anthocyanins are also believed to help reduce inflammation 3 , 4. In a week study in people with high cholesterol, supplementing with mg of anthocyanins twice per day significantly reduced markers of inflammation 8. Plus, in a 4-week study, people with and without overweight or obesity who took mg of anthocyanins daily had significantly lower blood markers of inflammation 9.

Additionally, one study suggests that these compounds may help reduce inflammation and pain in people with inflammatory arthritis Since chronic inflammation may cause several chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease , regularly eating anthocyanin-rich foods may help protect you from these Regularly eating foods that are rich in anthocyanins may safeguard against type 2 diabetes.

Furthermore, adding as little as 7. To put this into perspective, 7. Both of these benefits may reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes However, other studies find no effect 11 , However, anthocyanins are classified as flavonoids, a group of antioxidants believed to have strong cancer-fighting abilities 14 , These alternative treatments are less aggressive than conventional cancer drugs and appear to be especially helpful when combined with chemotherapy Like other flavonoids, anthocyanins may fight free radicals, lower inflammation, and prevent DNA damage — all factors which may help prevent tumor formation Anthocyanins may also help prevent cancer cells from multiplying and spreading.

For instance, one test-tube study suggests that they may activate certain genes that kill prostate cancer cells Anthocyanins also appear effective at preventing leukemia and ovarian cancer cells from spreading.

Keep in mind that most studies have been done exclusively in test tubes or animals. Therefore, more research involving humans — in addition to more anthocyanin-specific research — is needed. In a week study, people who drank 6.

In another, those who drank 10 ounces mL of anthocyanin-rich plum juice daily saw a significant drop in blood pressure that remained 6 hours later. While participants from all age groups experienced this drop, it was most significant in older adults In addition, anthocyanins may lower triglyceride and LDL bad cholesterol levels while increasing HDL good cholesterol levels 6 , 22 , 23 , Anthocyanins may also benefit your brain.

A recent review of randomized control trials — the gold standard in scientific research — suggests that these compounds boost your memory, attention, and brain processing speed For instance, a review of seven short- and long-term studies claims that diets rich in anthocyanins may improve verbal learning and memory in children, adults, and older adults with cognitive impairment Another review of 21 long-term studies suggests that supplementing with flavonoids improves attention, memory , and brain processing speed in healthy adults — as well as memory in children and older adults Anthocyanin-rich cherry juice appears to offer similar benefits.

In a week study, older adults with mild to moderate dementia saw significant improvements in verbal fluency and short- and long-term memory after drinking 6. The strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of anthocyanins may benefit your brain and heart, as well as reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

The antitumor mechanism of anthocyanins may be related to their effective antioxidant capacity and cyclooxygenase inhibited. It is reported that Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn proanthocyanidins inhibited the colony formation and growth of melanoma B16 cells by a dose-dependent manner [ 15 ].

The in vitro studies by He et al. found that proanthocyanidins inhibited the proliferation of human colon cancer cell line SW in a concentration-dependent manner and activated the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway to promote the apoptosis of SW cells [ 16 ].

Many studies reported that proanthocyanidins can inhibit the proliferation and promote the apoptosis of SKOV3 cells by decreasing the expression of survival protein survivin and fight against the Croton tiglium -induced mouse skin papilloma formation and lessen tumor number and occurrence.

Its mechanism of action is that proanthocyanidins can lower the content of NO of the skin in mice, and NO is regarded to be involved in the formation of dermal papilloma in mice [ 17 , 18 ]. Studies by Zhang found that proanthocyanidins have a strong radiation sensitization action in SPC-A-1 cells of lung cancer [ 19 ].

In addition, proanthocyanidins showed good anticancer activity for liver cancer, prostate cancer, skin cancer, and other cancers. With the deepening of the research, proanthocyanidins will play a greater role in the prevention and treatment of cancer [ 20 ].

If the large amount free radicals cannot be removed immediately, they will cause the lipid peroxidation of protein, nucleic acid, and other biomolecules and result in the neuronal apoptosis and aggravate the disease development of AD.

Lycium barbarum L. anthocyanins can improve the mimic AD model rat memory impairment, increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes SOD and CAT and GSH content, and reduce MDA and protein carbonyl levels of serum and brain tissues [ 21 ].

Other experimental studies have confirmed that grape seed proanthocyanidins can prevent excessive production of β-amyloid protein Aβ in the brain and reduce cognitive decline with AD model rats and Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins ameliorate domoic acid-induced cognitive dysfunction, which may be used to the treatment of cognitive impairment caused by excitotoxicity and other brain diseases.

Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins can also inhibit the nerve inflammation by blocking ERK, JNK, and NF-KB signals and show therapeutic effect on the acute encephalitis induced by lipopolysaccharide LPS in rats [ 22 , 23 ].

Diabetes is a lifelong disease, and its incidence rate increases with the age, which seriously disturbs the quality of life to people. Studies have shown that the occurrence and development of diabetes are closely related to the abnormal metabolism of free radicals in the body.

Oxidative stress, deposition of glycosylated end products, and changes of vascular structure and function are all contributed to the increase of free radicals. Anthocyanins have antioxidant activity and can prevent and treat diabetes.

Many studies showed that grape seed proanthocyanidin extract GSPE could significantly lower the blood glucose and glucose tolerance, increase the body quality, decrease the serum MDA level and increase the SOD activity to the mimic diabetic mice, inhibit fat deposition, and lower blood lipid to the fatty mice.

Proanthocyanidins regulate fatty metabolism in mice by commonly influencing the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes, glucose, and insulin tolerance [ 24 , 25 , 26 ]. A series of studies by Bao et al. found that GSPE could improve renal function injury caused by diabetes and could improve the symptoms of diabetic nephropathy by antioxidative stress and inhibiting inflammation [ 27 ].

These studies suggest that GSPE have a strong hypoglycemic effect, and its hypoglycemic mechanism may be associated to its antioxidant capacity.

In recent years, cardiovascular diseases have become the common diseases that endanger human health. With the deepening of the research on oxygen free radicals in diseases, a large number of data have confirmed that the oxidative reactions mediated by free radicals and their products play an important role in the occurrence and development of cardiovascular diseases.

As people age, the elastic fibers of arteries harden as they are oxidized, and the change is a major cause of cardiovascular disease in aging people. Proanthocyanidins mainly play an important role in preventing cardiovascular diseases by inhibiting the formation of artery atherosclerotic plaque and reducing the damage of free radicals induced by myocardial ischemia for protecting myocardial cell activity.

Proanthocyanidins can protect blood vessels and reduce capillary permeability, and its function of preventing cardiovascular diseases is closely related to its antioxidative stress.

Some results indicated that grape seed proanthocyanidins can effectively reduce the levels of LDL and cholesterol and the generation of MDA [ 28 ]. In addition, GSPE can protect vascular substances by capturing ROS and regulating enzyme activity [ 29 ].

Anthocyanins extracted from red wine can effectively remove superoxide free radicals and hydroxyl free radicals. The in vitro experiments indicated that anthocyanins can significantly inhibit the oxidation of LDL and the aggregation of platelets [ 30 ].

The animal and clinical studies have also found that proanthocyanidins can reduce blood pressure by lowering cholesterol level, reducing cholesterol deposition on blood vessel walls and improving vascular elasticity [ 31 ]. Some studies showed that Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn proanthocyanidins can increase the SOD activity of myocardial cells during ischemia reperfusion and reduce the production of MDA, thereby inhibiting apoptosis and protecting myocardial ischemia reperfusion [ 32 ].

Studies by Suda I et al. showed that anthocyanins from Solanum tuberosum can be absorbed by rats, enhance the antioxidant capacity of plasma, and play an important role in protecting cardiovascular system [ 33 ].

Studies have shown that gluttony can harm gastrointestinal tract, liver, and kidney as large amounts of free radicals are produced. Removing these deteriorated free radicals timely can protect liver cells and improve liver function. When fatty liver occurs, free fatty acids, oxidative stress, and free radicals are increased, which lead to the degeneration of proteins, DNA, and lipid in liver cells and lower the immunity.

Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins were proven to alleviate liver injury caused by dimethylnitrosamine DMN , protect the liver function, and resist liver fibrosis [ 34 ]. In addition, Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins can also activate adenosine monophosphate to sensitize the protein kinase and inhibit liver fatty accumulation [ 35 ].

The results by Zhang et al. were also reported that anthocyanins from Solanum tuberosum can alleviate insulin resistance in liver caused by high-fat diet, and the effective mechanism is that anthocyanins can block oxidative and endoplasmic reticulum stress [ 36 ]. Studies showed that anthocyanins of Solanum tuberosum can inhibit oxidative stress in the kidney, and the molecular mechanism was to inhibit the activation of NLRP3 signaling pathway of inflammasome [ 37 ].

Studies by Sun et al. reported that Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins have a preventive effect on acute and subacute alcoholic liver injury and indicated that Solanum tuberosum anthocyanins have a certain antialcoholic effect [ 38 ].

The acute inflammation is a short-term self-limiting process, and the chronic systemic proinflammatory state can result in insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and other diseases [ 39 ].

When the body is in the acute inflammation, macrophages can effectively eliminate foreign materials by producing a large number of oxygen free radicals in a short time.

However, when the acute inflammation changes into the chronic inflammation, the generation of reactive oxygen species ROS is out of control and dramatically increases, which will promote the inflammatory factors activated, aggravate the inflammatory response and gene mutations, and finally result in the occurrence of cancer [ 40 ].

Therefore, it is the important link to maintain the balance of free radicals and regulate the activity of SOD in the body against the inflammation [ 41 ].

Many studies indicated that anthocyanins showed strong anti-inflammatory activity in both in vivo and in vitro, and their effective mechanism may be the ability to remove ROS and regulate SOD activity [ 42 ]. Studies by Kim et al. found that anthocyanins from Glycine max L Merr can inhibit ROS level in human gastric epithelial cells infected by Helicobacter pylori and in a dose-dependent manner, and the inhibition was significant [ 43 ].

In conclusion, anthocyanins have been proven to express high antioxidant properties, and the anti-inflammatory effect is primary from its inhibiting ROS production and enhancing SOD expression [ 39 ]. Smoking, drinking, staying up late, or genital tract infections, exposing to the phenols chemicals, heavy metals, and the external environmental high ionizing radiation, may significantly increase free radicals production in the male reproductive system.

The high free radicals can cause many diseases to the reproductive system in the male. GSPE, as a highly effective antioxidant, plays an important role in the prevention and treatment of related male reproductive diseases.

GSPE can antagonize the reproductive toxicity of male mice caused by heavy metals, fluorine, and semicarbazide, enhance the sperm survival rate, and reduce the sperm malformation rate. In addition, GSPE can elevate the SOD activity of testicular tissue induced by testicular torsion reduction, decrease the MDA level, and appear to be an obvious protection to mice reproductive function injury.

Meanwhile, GSPE can also inhibit the spermatogenic cells apoptosis in experimental cryptorchidism male rats, and the effective mechanism is also derived from the antioxidant capacity of GSPE [ 44 ].

With the popular of various electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and LED lights, the blue light harm is the more and more to people. The long-term blue light irradiation to retina can cause a lot of free radicals produced.

These free radicals can result in retinal pigment epithelial cell apoptosis, intraocular metabolic abnormalities, toxin trash accumulation, and hindering of the blood circulation, which cause myopia, cataracts, macular degeneration, ocular fundus diseases, vitreous opacity, floaters, retinopathy, and other eye diseases.

Proanthocyanidins can effectively eliminate oxygen free radicals, which is beneficial to the treatment of ophthalmological diseases. Studies showed that anthocyanins can significantly improve visual fatigue and the early myopia and the distant vision of mild myopia [ 45 ].

This result indicated that proanthocyanidin eye drops have good effect for the treatment of xerophthalmia [ 46 ].

Muthenna et al. also provided that Cinnamomum cassia Presl proanthocyanidin extract B2 can improve the cataract of diabetic rats, ameliorate the optic nerve blood perfusion, and block the optic nerve cell apoptosis induced by ischemia.

The possible effective mechanism of anthocyanins is that anthocyanins have a strong scavenging ability for free radical and inhibiting intracellular calcium overload and then protect the optic nerve structure and function [ 47 ].

In addition, anthocyanins also have therapeutic effects to glaucoma, in which the effective mechanism of anthocyanins is both removing free radicals and reducing intracellular calcium overload and also is related to the enhancement of SOD activity.

Furthermore, anthocyanins can alleviate further injury of the optic nerve in the eye surgery, which is also associated to raising SOD activity [ 48 , 49 ].

Free radicals attack the immune system or lymphocytes to damage them, which can result in the decline of cell-mediated immunity and humoral immunity. Free radicals also lead to the decline of immune recognition and the emergence of autoimmune diseases.

Studies by Gabriela et al. showed that GSPE can improve the immune suppression induced by ultraviolet irradiation in mice, which may be one of the mechanisms by which GSPE inhibits the light of carcinogenesis [ 50 ].

By regulating the differentiation of inflammatory T cells, GSPE can reduce the secretion of interleukin IL, IL, IL, IL, and other cytokines and reduce the incidence of inflammation and diseases [ 51 ].

Studies showed that proanthocyanidins from Hippophae rhamnoides L seed could significantly increase the mice immunity, enhance the mice carbon clearance ability, raise the mice T lymphocyte activity, and promote the hemolysin formation [ 52 ]. Hao et al. added proanthocyanidins extracted from Sorghum to the feed of ablactation piglets.

The IgG, IgM, C3, and IL-2 concentrations of piglets serum significantly increased, which was conducive to improving piglets immunity [ 53 ]. In addition, The Institute of Shanghai Nonghao Biological Technology, which studied proanthocyanidins from Pinus tabulaeformis Caar as a feed additive, found that proanthocyanidins have antigenic properties, produce specific immune responses, improve the immune function, and reduce the incidence of livestock and poultry [ 54 ].

Senescence is a complex physiological process. As early as , Harmon proposed the free radical theory of senescence [ 55 ], which believed that the senescence was primarily caused by the attack of free radicals to cell components, and then maintaining the balance of antioxidants and free radical scavengers in the body could delay senescence.

The result by Sato et al. reported that GSPE can promote the recovery of cardiac systolic function and decrease the area of myocardial infarction after ischemia reperfusion and the possible mechanism of this proanthocyanidins are related to directly removing peroxide free radicals, enhancing SOD activity, decreasing MDA level, and inhibiting the damage from free radical lipid peroxidation to myocardial membrane [ 57 ].

Proanthocyanidins, as natural antioxidants, can alleviate the aging of the body by adjusting the free radical oxidation system [ 58 ]. With the increase of age, the skin will get rougher, wrinkled, and darker and gradually senile plaques form.

This is the reason why the skin has some substances, like SOD, CAT, and GSH-Px, that can prevent the skin from aging. There are other antioxidants such as vitamin E and vitamin C also to assist regulating the balance of oxygen free radical for preventing skin aging and damage.

With the increase of age, the enzyme activity that removes oxygen free radical drops and the antioxidant content also drops in the skin.

Then, the excessive harmful oxygen free radical is able to bring about the cell damage. If the complement of a few exogenous free radical scavengers is not immediately provided, the balance of free radical of the skin is hardly maintained, and good skin is hardly possessed [ 10 ].

The present studies indicate that proanthocyanidins are good antioxidant and have free radical scavenging abilities and also can promote the covalent cross-linking of collagen molecules, inhibit the elastase production and prevent the degradation of elastin, prevent skin aging and laxity, and reduce the excessive secretion of sebaceous glands to skin.

In addition, proanthocyanidins can combine with proteins by the form of hydrophobic bonds and hydrogen bonds, which can shrink skin pores and tighten skin. Proanthocyanidins can reduce the o-benzoquinone structure of the melanin to phenolic structure to fade the pigment and inhibit the key enzyme tyrosinase phthalidomide activity of melanin synthesis to achieve white skin and decrease spot efficacy.

Proanthocyanidins can absorb ultraviolet light and inhibit the process of lipid peroxidation. Supplement of external grape seed proanthocyanidins can decrease Fas protein expression and increase the skin bcl-2 protein expression after the irradiation of skin and tend the skin to normal skin status, which indicates that proanthocyanidins from grape seed can reduce the sun damage to a certain extent [ 59 , 60 , 61 ].

In addition, proanthocyanidins also have the effects in treating skin inflammation, moisturizing and antiaging skin.

In the present, proanthocyanidins, as raw materials, are added to successfully produce the night cream, skin whitener, sunscreen, mouthwash, and shampoo in France, Italy, and Japan market [ 62 , 63 ]. Anthocyanins, as a kind of natural food pigment, have advantages of high security and abundant resources, as well as certain nutritional and dietary functions, as compared with synthetic pigments.

In recent years, people pay more and more attention to food safety and health, and then anthocyanins have shown to have more and more concern for consumers and researchers. Currently, anthocyanins have been allowed to be put into production and used natural edible pigments including grape skin pigment, berry pigment, purple sweet potato pigment, perilla pigment, cabbage pigment, purple corn pigment, and other edible pigment [ 2 ].

Anthocyanins from blueberry fruits, as natural food additives, have been widely used in the lactic acid milk, cakes, and other food. In recent years, a large number of studies have confirmed that anthocyanins have strong antioxidant properties and anthocyanins, as safe natural pigment and effective antioxidants, have been a widely used.

However, at present, there is no report upon the anthocyanins as a clinical drug used. Then, the intensive research and innovation should be performed in order that anthocyanins specifically apply to the prevention of clinical diseases and health care in the future.

The authors wish to thank the Key Subject Construction Project of Hebei Provincial College, Hebei Province Key Research Office of Traditional Chinese Medicine Against Dementia, Hebei Province Key Laboratory of Traditional Chinese Medicine Research and Development and Chengde Medical College of China for financial support.

Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3. Edited by Farid A.

Open access peer-reviewed chapter Anthocyanins: Novel Antioxidants in Diseases Prevention and Human Health Written By Shang Yazhen, Wang Wenju, Zhu Panpan, Ye Yuanyuan, Dai Panpan, Zhao Wusen and Wang Yanling.

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From the Edited Volume Flavonoids - A Coloring Model for Cheering up Life Edited by Farid A. Badria and Anthony Ananga Book Details Order Print. Chapter metrics overview 1, Chapter Downloads View Full Metrics. Impact of this chapter. Abstract Anthocyanins are a category of water-soluble natural pigments that exist widely in all kinds of vegetables, fruits, and seeds.

Keywords anthocyanins antioxidants disease prevention human health. Introduction Anthocyanins, also known as anthocyanidins, contain acidic and alkaline groups. References 1. Yang Y, Wen LX.