Dietary anthocyanins as a complementary medicinal approach for management of inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is thought to result from a chronic or relapsing activation of the immune system in the GI tract. A growing body of evidence confirms the health benefits of dietary anthocyanins as plant-derived natural agents. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of several natural products rich in anthocyanins used worldwide for the treatment of IBD. Anthocyanins possess both protective and therapeutic functions in the management of IBD by alleviating oxidative stress processes, cytoprotective functions, downregulation of inflammatory cytokines and suppressing cellular signaling pathways of inflammatory processes. In conclusion, the consumption of anthocyanin-rich natural formulations must be promoted on the basis of their possible function in the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders.

Keywords:

• anthocyanin
• dietary supplementation
• inflammation
• inflammatory bowel disease
• inflammatory cytokines
• natural products

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is chronic or relapsing activation of immune system in the gastrointestinal tract, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Diarrhea, abdominal pain and rectal bleeding as well as extraintestinal manifestations, such as anemia, fever, weight loss, arthritis, uveitis, iritis, erythema nodosum and a high risk of colorectal cancer are among IBD complications.

• IBD affects approximately 1.4 million patients in the USA and 2.4 million in Europe. Although a lower prevalence is reported for Asian countries, a recent increase has been observed in these countries as well.

• High proportion of patients with IBD is not sufficiently controlled with conventional anti-inflammatory treatments and sometimes surgical interventions are necessary.

• Anthocyanins are water-soluble, glycosidic, polyhydroxyl and polymethoxyl derivatives of flavylium salts and are most abundant in berries, grapes and red cabbage.

• Antioxidative, antiviral, vasoprotective, antiangiogenic, anticarcinogenic, prebiotic and anti-inflammatory effects are among health benefits of anthocyanins.

• Current article demonstrated that strawberry, blueberry, barberry, black raspberry, bilberry, cranberry, Sunrouge, navy and black bean anthocyanins possess protective and therapeutic beneficial functions in IBD. Helpful potential of anthocyanins in inflammatory intestinal disorders is mediated by different mechanisms including alleviating oxidative stress process and scavenging free radicals, cytoprotective functions, downregulation of inflammatory cytokines and mediators as well as modulation of intracellular signaling cascades within the intestinal tissue.

• Dietary intake of anthocyanin-rich natural formulations must be promoted on the basis of their positive role in the prevention as well as induction and maintenance of remission of gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders; however, further well-designed human studies are recommended to confirm the role of dietary anthocyanins in the management of IBD.

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