Advances in research on pharmacological activities of flavanol compounds.

The flavanol compounds are a class of common and natural plant poly-phenols, including catechins, anthocyanidins, flavonoids and other compounds, which exist in various woody such as hawthorn, grapes, cocoa powder, apple and strawberry, and have close relation with the daily diet. In recent years, there had been many homeland and abroad reported studies about flavanol compounds, which had indicated that they had a variety of healthy and biological activities, such as alleviation of free radicals damage, antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory effect, anti-fungal, hypolipaemic, liver protection, cardiovascular protection and so on, confirmed by many drug results and experiments, and become a central issue of research and development. The article mainly reviewed the sources and pharmacological activity of these natural compounds, and suggestions were also provided for the future application of flavanol compounds in China, which provided a good reference replace synthetic drugs used in health food and other industries in future.