Hovenia dulcis Thumberg: Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Toxicology and Regulatory Framework for Its Use in the European Union

Although H. Dulcis extracts are well-known and used in the Chinese Traditional Medicine for the treatment of several diseases and as a food supplement in Japan, China and Korea, little is known about it in Western countries, so far. However, in the recent years, H. dulcis gained growing interest among the scientific community, due to the variety of biological activities, such as antidiabetic, anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective effects and in the hangover treatment, especially.

Secondary metabolites responsible for interesting biological activities are usually secreted from aerial or from non-aerial parts of a plant, unlikely from both of them. On the contrary, in H. dulcis, almost all the plant parts, such as root, bark, leaves, seeds, fruits and pseudo-fruits, are able to produce biologically active extracts. Triterpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, polysaccharides, organic acids, saponins, dihydroflavonols and flavonols are the well-known chemical families represented in H. dulcis and responsible for the claimed biological activities.

Please go to: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33572099/