According to recent research in Taiwan, different flavonols, despite structural similarity, have distinct antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Institutions contributing to this research were Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; Chia-Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan; and Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan. The results of this study were published in the Dec. 27 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (see http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jafcau/2006/54/i26/abs/jf0620719.html).
The researchers note that previous work has suggested that the structure of flavonols is related to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. However, their study revealed that selected flavonols, including fisetin, kaempferol, morin, myricetin and quercetin (Q), exhibited distinctive free radical scavenging properties against different kinds of free radicals. Despite structural similarity, different flavonols have different antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
Flavanols—along with isoflavonoids, biflavonoids, anthocyanidins, and many others—are a type of flavonoids, plant-derived pigments that research has shown have various beneficial impacts on health.
For example, recent research has shown that fisetin might positively affect long-term memory (see http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/103/44/16568), while other studies have shown that kaempferol and quercetin have a synergistic effect on cancer cells (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=15796157&dopt=Abstract). Morin and myricetin have also shown distinct anticancer properties (see http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=14537558 and http://mct.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/4/2/281).
