Plant defense and human nutrition : phenylpropanoids on the menu

Because of their sessile status, land plants have been enhancing secondary metabolism, particularly the phenylpropanoid pathway, to defend themselves against environmental fluctuations and pathogen attacks. Most of the phenylpropanoid compounds constitute the plant food phytochemicals that have signified the dietary behavioural selection of primates, non-fire-using foraging hominids and agricultural human populations. By traditional breeding; humans have been modifying plant secondary metabolite profiles by selecting fruits, flowers and vegetables on the basis of their easier cultivation, edibility, digestibility, nutritional value, colours and scents. At last, besides enhancing plant fitness, phenylpropanoids are considered as nutraceuticals or pharmaconutrients. These are not drugs but pharmacologically active compounds that will potentiate, antagonize or simply modify some physiological and metabolic functions, providing, in most cases, health benefits and preventing ageing and chronic disease. Main phenylpropanoids found in functional foods, such as coumarins, lignans, flavonoids and stilbens, are described, with particular emphasis to their origin, sources and effects on human health. Copyright