**7. Conclusions**

(Poly)phenols are plant secondary metabolites that constitute one of the most common and widespread groups of substances in plants. Plants adapt themselves their phenolic patterns to a changing environment through the emergence of new genes brought about by gene duplication and mutation and subsequent recruitment for adaptation to specific functions. Central metabolism requires high levels of limited plant resources, and during intense growth, the synthesis of phenolic metabolites may be substrateand/or energy-limited. On the other hand, either abiotic or biotic stresses divert substantial amounts of substrates from primary metabolism into secondary defensive product formation, and this may lead to constraints on growth. The allocation pattern of a plant defines its ecological roles and is therefore an important factor in understanding plant distribution and adaptation. On the other hand, as far as the development of a new strategy to enable the production of useful secondary metabolites on a commercial scale is concerned, any progress made in the basic understanding of metabolic pathways and regulatory mechanisms may be addressed to exploit the plant cell and tissue culture potentials to produce food additives, such as antioxidant phenolics for specific recommendation for industrial and pharmaceuticals applications.
