Health-Promotion Effects of Anthocyanins Derived from Cornelian Cherry: Comparison
Please note this is a comparison between Version 2 by Sirius Huang and Version 1 by Grzegorz P Łysiak.

The cornelian cherry is a plant that annually provides fruits, drupe-type, ranging in color from yellow through pink, red, carmine, and almost black. Cornelian cherry bears abundant fruit in temperate climate conditions, which means that its dark-colored fruits can be treated as an excellent source of anthocyanins. After consuming, anthocyanins have a protective function in the human body. Raw fruit extracts and their pure isolates, rich in anthocyanins, have a wide spectrum of health-promoting properties. 

  • healthy properties of fruit
  • antidiabetic
  • anticancer
  • antioxidant
  • antimicrobial properties

1. Bioavailability and Bioefficacy of Anthocyanins Derived from Cornelian Cherry

Anthocyanins are responsible for fruit color from pink through red to nearly black. Therefore, their level is the highest in dark-colored fruit: from 200 to 1560 mg·100 g−1 FW in elderberry, from 506 to 1000 mg·100 g−1 FW in chokeberry, from 8 to 750 mg·100 g−1 FW in red grapes, from 82.5 to 530 mg·100 g−1 FW in blueberry, and from130 to 400 mg·100 g−1 FW in blackcurrant [21][1]. Cornelian cherries contain from 5.8 to 442.11 mg·100 g−1 FW of anthocyanins [22,23][2][3]. Different anthocyanin content of individual fruit cultivars is also associated with their different color [24][4]. Yellow-colored cornelian cherries do not contain anthocyanins at all [25][5]. Over 650 different anthocyanins have been isolated in plants with six possible aglycon structures (anthocyanidins) most frequently occurring in natural conditions: pelargonidin, cyanidin, peonidin, delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin [26][6]. Qualitative analyses of anthocyanins in cornelian cherry most often reveal the presence of cyanidin 3-O-galactoside [27[7][8][9][10],28,29,30], cyanidin 3-O-robinobioside [25,31,32][5][11][12], pelargonidin 3-O-galactoside [27[7][8],28], pelargonidin 3-O-robinobioside [25,31][5][11] and delphinidin 3-O-galactoside [29,33][9][13]. In addition, there are peonidin 3-O-glucoside [33,34][13][14] and petunidin 3-O-glucoside [31[11][13],33], with no reports of anthocyanins derived from malvidin (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
The most common anthocyanins in cornelian cherry fruits.
Anthocyanins are among the few plant polyphenols that can be determined in plasma in their original, intact form as glycosides. Until recently, it was believed that anthocyanins have very poor bioavailability, and <1% of their consumed amount reaches the plasma. However, the estimation of bioavailability is limited by the lack of identification of anthocyanin metabolites and degradation products [10,35][15][16].
The biological activity of anthocyanins depends on their absorption by the human body and on metabolic processes. Anthocyanins show hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions with human albumin, preferred by hydroxyl groups in contrast to methyl groups. Studies demonstrate limited absorption of these compounds from food, as their concentration in blood plasma ranges from nM to μM. Researchers argue that anthocyanin glycosides are absorbed by a peculiar carrier—most likely a Na+ ion-dependent glucose transporter [36][17]. Anthocyanins and their metabolites remain in urine for up to 24 h after intake. Another factor involved in anthocyanin absorption is bilitranslocase—a plasma membrane carrier of organic anions found in the epithelial cells of the gastric mucosa [37][18]. Alternatively, they may also transform into glucuronide or sulfo-conjugate derivatives. Anthocyanin absorption takes place mainly in the stomach and small intestine [38][19]. Enzymes responsible for anthocyanin biotransformation include UDP-glucuronyl transferase, UDP–glucose dehydrogenase, and catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). They are present in the liver, small intestine, and kidneys and—depending on the chemical structure of anthocyanins—can modify them in various ways [39][20]. Due to this, both—primary anthocyanins and their secondary metabolites—can be detected in human urine and blood [40][21]. Differences in the concentrations of anthocyanins and their metabolites in the urine suggest that absorption of these pigments depends on their chemical structure, type and levels of substituted sugar radicals, and acylation method. Researchers demonstrated that binding with human albumin is more favorable for anthocyanins than it is for anthocyanidins [2][22]. It should be underlined that anthocyanin uptake and utilization also depend on external factors and individual traits such as age and different levels of stress [41][23].
David et al. [42][24] discovered that anthocyanins in cornelian cherries can remain in the human body for a long time. Their study, simulating a digestive process in vitro, evaluated the stability of anthocyanins derived from cornelian cherry during passage through the upper alimentary tract. Cornelian cherry extract was rich in anthocyanins such as cyanidin 3-O-galactoside, pelargonidin 3-O-glucoside, and pelargonidin 3-O-rutinoside. They demonstrated that gastric digestion had no significant effect on the levels of anthocyanins, and only intestinal digestion materially reduced their content and antioxidant activity. These discoveries suggest that cornelian cherries are an important source of anthocyanins in a human diet. They can have a beneficial effect on gastric health, while the products of their degradation and their metabolites can act as antioxidants in the small intestine. High levels of ingredients in fruits do not always go hand in hand with the human body’s capability of utilizing them.

2. Health-Promotion Effects of Anthocyanins Derived from Cornelian Cherry

The beneficial effects of anthocyanins from cornelian cherry fruit have been studied in in vitro (Table 1), in vivo (Table 2), and human experiments (Table 3).
Table 1.
Health-promoting properties of cornelian cherries anthocyanins proven in in vitro tests presented according to the PICO scheme.
Table 2.
Health-promoting properties of cornelian cherries and anthocyanins proven in vivo presented according to the PICO scheme.
Table 3. Health-promoting properties of cornelian cherries anthocyanins proven in human studies, presented according to the PICO scheme.

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