The metabolites of ellagitannin metabolism urolithins display various biological activities

Dietary consumption to various nuts, berries, and particularly pomegranate is an important source of ellagitannins. These molecules are particularly subject to gastrointestinal metabolism producing urolithins as their metabolites. Urolithins (i.e., hydroxylated benzo[c]chromen-6-one analogues) have a greater absorption than the ellagitannins thus; greater bioavailability is of great significance. Therefore, the biological activities obtained through the use of ellagitannin rich foods are mainly attributed tourolithins. These compounds possess a good peripheral distribution. In addition, some of their further metabolitescan penetrate to the central nervous system which, is of a topic of interest for CNS related pathologies. This review has aimed to introduce the structure and metabolism related formation of different urolithins concomitant to their biological activities discovered so far in the literature.