Health Benefits of Prunus avium Plant Parts: An Unexplored Source Rich in Phenolic Compounds

ABSTRACT

Medicinal plants have been used for centuries as an essential part of folk medicine. In recent times, they have been the target of numerous scientific studies due to their effectiveness against several pandemic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular, and neurological disorders. Among them, fruits and vegetables have been intensively studied because of their richness in bioactive compounds, mainly phenolics and carotenoids. Prunus avium Linnaeus (L.) vegetal parts (e.g. stems, leaves, and flowers) are a good example of parts of a plant rich in bioactive compounds. They have numerous technological applications; however, currently, they are mostly used as fertilizers and infusions. According to current knowledge, there are now studies regarding the composition and biological properties of cherry trees vegetal parts, which report that they are a rich source of a wide variety of nutritive compounds, such as vitamins, minerals, among others, as well as non-nutritive bioactive constituents like phenolic compounds. Phenolic acids and flavonoids are denominated as plant secondary metabolites, which have shown several health benefits when included in the human diet, particularly antioxidant, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-neurodegenerative, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and anti-cardiovascular effects. The purpose of this review is to present an overview of the beneficial medicinal effects of leaves, flowers, and stems of the cherry tree P. avium, giving emphasis to its phenolic compounds as health promotors.

KEYWORDS:

• Flowers
• health benefits
• leaves
• phenolic compounds
• Prunus avium L.
• stems

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by FEDER funds through the POCI – COMPETE 2020 – Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalisation in Axis I – Strengthening research, technological development and innovation (Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007491), Operational Program of the Center (Project CENTRO-01-0247-FEDER-017547) and National Funds by FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology (Project UID/Multi/00709/2013). Luís R. Silva (SFRH/BPD/105263/2014) was supported by post doc grants from FCT and by by post doc incentive grant under the Protocol signed between the University of Beira Interior (UBI) and Banco Santander/Totta. Ana Carolina was supported by the R&D Business Project (Project CENTRO-01-0247-FEDER-017547), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Regional Operational Program of the Center (Portugal 2020).