Flavonoid Bioavailability and Attempts for Bioavailability Enhancement

Flavonoids are a group of phytochemicals that have shown numerous health effects and have therefore been studied extensively. Of the six common food flavonoid classes, flavonols are distributed ubiquitously among different plant foods whereas appreciable amounts of isoflavones are found in leguminous plant-based foods. Flavonoids have shown promising health promoting effects in human cell culture, experimental animal and human clinical studies. They have shown antioxidant, hypocholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory effects as well as ability to modulate cell signaling and gene expression related disease development. Low bioavailability of flavonoids has been a concern as it can limit or even hinder their health effects. Therefore, attempts to improve their bioavailability in order to improve the efficacy of flavonoids are being studied. Further investigations on bioavailability are warranted as it is a determining factor for flavonoid biological activity.