William Raja T

By Duraipandiyan Veeramuthu, William Raja Tharsius Raja, Naif Abdullah Al-Dhabi and Ignacimuthu Savarimuthu

Flavonoids are plant secondary metabolites. They are mainly classified into four major groups, such as flavanols, flavones, anthocyanidins, and isoflavonoids. Furthermore, they are divided into some subclasses. They are available in dietary foods and they cure various diseases. Certain plants and spices contain flavonoids, which have been commonly used for thousands of years in traditional medicine. Some of the flavonoids have been clinically used in many countries. Baicalein and its glycosides are one among them to have been experimented clinically. Flavonoids have the capability to regulate cell division and proliferation in an important pathway. They have medicinal activities including anticancer properties. The isoflavone analog rotenone is one of the flavonoid compounds, which has been revealed to be actual anticancer agent. Scutellaria species having flavones retain cytotoxic activities against many human cancer cell lines. At the same time, they do not harm the myeloid cells, normal peripheral and normal epithelial blood cells. Epidemiological studies also confirmed that the intake of dietary flavonoids reduces a risk condition in cancer.

Part of the book: Flavonoids