Polyphenols are among the front-runners in developing dietary approaches to fight age-associated

disease.

There's such a critical mass of data in favor of the protective benefits of these lifespan

essentials that recommended daily intakes of polyphenols have been proposed.

More than 8,000 different polyphenols have been identified,

though only a small proportion have had their health effects catalog.

Shared structural features make them among the most powerful dietary antioxidants in vitro,

but in our bodies, mechanistic

effects have been attributed to their ability to modulate cellular signal transduction

pathways.

In the Prettemed trial, those in the top fifth of polyphenol intake had a 37% reduction

in all-caused mortality compared to those in the lower fifth of consumption,

which over an adult lifetime could translate into about four more years of life.

However, the high polyphenol group was eating nine servings of fruits and vegetables a day

compared to the five a day eaten by the low polyphenol group,

so it's possible there were other phytonutrients at play.

Coffee and tea are major sources, but in terms of foods, polyphenols come primarily from

vegetables, fruits, then beans.

There are about a half dozen different types of polyphenols, including phenolic acids like

the curcumin and turmeric,

or the lignans concentrated in flax seeds, but the largest class are the flavonoids.

Plant eaters may consume more than 4,000 different types of flavonoids on a daily basis.

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