Recent Advances in Polyphenol Research

Plant polyphenols are secondary metabolites that constitute one of the most common and widespread groups of natural products. They are essential plant components for adaptation to the environment and possess a large and diverse range of biological functions that provide many benefits to both plants and humans. Polyphenols, from their structurally simplest forms to their oligo/polymeric versions (i.e. tannin and lignin), are phytoestrogens, plant pigments, antioxidants, and structural components of the plant cell wall. The interaction between tannins and proteins is involved in plant defense against predation, cause astringency in foods and beverages, and affect the nutritional and health properties of human and animal food plants.

This seventh volume of the highly regarded Recent Advances in Polyphenol Research series is edited by Jess Dreher Reed, Victor Armando Pereira de Freitas, and Stéphane Quideau, and brings together chapters written by some of the leading experts working in the polyphenol sciences today. Topics covered include:

• Chemistry and physicochemistry
• Biosynthesis, genetics and metabolic engineering
• Roles in plants and ecosystems
• Food, nutrition and health
• Applied polyphenols

Distilling the most recent and illuminating data available, this new volume is an invaluable resource for chemists, biochemists, plant scientists, pharmacognosists and pharmacologists, biologists, ecologists, food scientists and nutritionists.

About the Editors

Jess Dreher Reed is Professor of Animal Nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with over 30 years of postgraduate experience in research on the effects of dietary phytochemicals on the nutrition and health of animals and humans. His research includes development of phytochemical methods for characterization of tannin structure and their interactions with proteins and polysaccharides, and mechanistic studies on the effects of tannins in cell culture and animal models of disease.

Victor Armando Pereira de Freitas, current President of the Groupe Polyphénols (since 2016), is Full Professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal. His research on polyphenols include: structural characterization, chemical transformations in plants and foods during harvest and storage, influence on the sensory properties of foods (color, astringency and bitterness), and other biological properties.

Stéphane Quideau, former President of the Groupe Polyphénols (2008-2012), is Full Professor of Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry at the University of Bordeaux, France, and Senior Member of the “Institut Universitaire de France”. His laboratory is involved in research on plant polyphenol chemistry and chemical biology, with particular interests in ellagitannin chemical reactivity and synthesis, and in polyphenol-protein interactions.