**Author details**

**10. Final comments**

230 Flavonoids - From Biosynthesis to Human Health

tive diseases.

Anthocyanins [13, 14, 17, 293, 343–346] are members of the flavonoid group of phytochemicals, a group predominant in fruits and vegetables, especially in berries. Recent research raised awareness of the importance [347, 348] of anthocyanins in the diet. Anthocyanin identification is critical in adulteration and profiling [349, 350] studies and in evaluating the quality of crude and processed food. The design of plant products with a high added value allows increasing the synthesis [351] of plant‐derived food antioxidants and in particular anthocyanins. In an effort to expand the palette of natural organic colourants (colour additives of food and beverage products), the food industry has launched a search for new products, for example blue colourants [352, 353]. Food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries are interested in [354] clean recovery of valuable compounds. Thus, exploration of more efficient, cost‐effective and eco‐friendly techniques of polyphenol extraction, that is anthocyanins, from food matrices and waste plant food processing residues (grape fruit, fruits by‐products, winery waste materials, by‐products) is a challenge [355–360]. In any case, in order to ascertain the nutraceutical potential of bioactive compounds, quantification [359, 361] is required, thus

Apart from their well‐known potential for their practical applications as natural colourants [13, 48, 49, 58, 76, 79, 281, 328], anthocyanins show antioxidant activity and a wide variety of health‐promoting properties for human health [12, 56, 81, 85, 90, 111, 112, 120, 130, 264, 343], ranging from cytoprotective, antimicrobial and antitumor activities to neuroprotective, anti‐ obesity and lipidomic potential. Moreover, epidemiological evidence suggests [12, 111, 112, 362] a direct correlation between anthocyanin intake and a lower incidence of chronic and degenera-

However, the issue of food antioxidants although important is a controversial topic [11, 64, 72, 363–365]. The plethora of published studies on mechanisms [132] that may mediate therapeutic or chemical chemopreventive effects of dietary constituents contrasts sharply with a scarcity of information on their pharmaceutical and clinical‐pharmacological properties. Most of the evidence supporting a therapeutic effect of anthocyanins is in vitro or mechanical in nature, although the number of studies on bioavailability in humans has increased significantly over the past two decades. Anthocyanins show a complex biochemical (more than other compounds of flavonoids type), and there is still much to discover [94, 95, 366] about the biochemical activity and clinical pharmacology of these compounds (stability, bioavailability and formulation of dietary constituents), which constitutes an obstacle [367] to understand their health benefits. As evidence of their therapeutic effects accumulates, it is important to understand the nature [81, 85, 87, 89, 139] of the absorption and metabolism "in vivo" and that such knowledge will enable the development of new food products, both fresh and manufactured with greater therapeutic efficacy [95, 366]. Progress in this field requires a multidisciplinary research carried out by a wide range of professionals: food science and technology scientists, chemists (analytical chemists), nutritionist, physiologists, pharmacist, pharmacologists, engineers, physicians, biologists, genetics, clinics, etc., being a field in which

obtaining vital information for future food industrial applications.

promising progress will be undoubtedly made in the future.

Julia Martín, Eugenia Marta Kuskoski, María José Navas and Agustín G. Asuero\*

\*Address all correspondence to: asuero@us.es

Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Seville, Seville, Spain
