Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide and involves an oxidative stress mechanism. The transcription factor Nrf2 has a crucial role in cytoprotective response against oxidative stress, including cancer growth and progression and therapy resistance. For this reason, inhibitors of Nrf2 are new targets to be studied. Traditional plant-based remedies rich in phytochemicals have been used against human cancers and phenolic compounds are known for their chemopreventive properties. This comprehensive review offers an updated review of the role of phenolic compounds as anticancer agents due to their action on Nrf2 inhibition. In addition, the role of naturally-occurring bioactive anticancer agents are covered in the clinical applications of polyphenols as Nrf2 inhibitors. Video Abstract.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, wherein a progressive loss of cholinergic synapses occurs in hippocampus and neocortex. Decreased concentration of the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine (ACh), appears to be critical element in the development of dementia, and the most appropriate therapeutic approach to treat AD and other form of dementia is to restore acetylcholine levels by inhibiting both major form of cholinesterase: Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). Consequently, researches have focused their attention towards finding cholinesterase inhibitors from natural products. A large number of such inhibitors have been isolated from medicinal plants. This review presents a comprehensive account of the advances in field of cholinesterase inhibitor phytoconstituents. The structures of some important phytoconstituents (collected through www.Chemspider.com) are also presented and the scope for future research is discussed.

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Many plants of the Ericaceae family, Rhododendron, Pieris, Agarista and Kalmia, contain diterpene grayanotoxins. Consumption of grayanotoxin containing leaves, flowers or secondary products as honey may result in intoxication specifically characterized by dizziness, hypotension and atrial-ventricular block. Symptoms are caused by an inability to inactivate neural sodium ion channels resulting in continuous increased vagal tone. Grayanotoxin containing products are currently sold online, which may pose an increasing risk. In humans, intoxication is rarely lethal, in contrast to cattle and pet poisoning cases. Scientific evidence for the medicinal properties of grayanotoxin containing preparations, such as honey or herbal preparation in use in folk medicine, is scarce, and such use may even be harmful.

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Diabetes mellitus remains a burden worldwide in spite of the availability of numerous antidiabetic drugs. Honey is a natural substance produced by bees from nectar. Several evidence-based health benefits have been ascribed to honey in the recent years. In this review article, we highlight findings which demonstrate the beneficial or potential effects of honey in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), on the gut microbiota, in the liver, in the pancreas and how these effects could improve glycemic control and metabolic derangements. In healthy subjects or patients with impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus, various studies revealed that honey reduced blood glucose or was more tolerable than most common sugars or sweeteners. Pre-clinical studies provided more convincing evidence in support of honey as a potential antidiabetic agent than clinical studies did. The not-too-impressive clinical data could mainly be attributed to poor study designs or due to the fact that the clinical studies were preliminary. Based on the key constituents of honey, the possible mechanisms of action of antidiabetic effect of honey are proposed. The paper also highlights the potential impacts and future perspectives on the use of honey as an antidiabetic agent. It makes recommendations for further clinical studies on the potential antidiabetic effect of honey. This review provides insight on the potential use of honey, especially as a complementary agent, in the management of diabetes mellitus. Hence, it is very important to have well-designed, randomized controlled clinical trials that investigate the reproducibility (or otherwise) of these experimental data in diabetic human subjects.

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The chloroform:medianol (1:1) extracts of a number of the plant species belonging to eight families, namely Corydalis solida (L.) Swartz subsp. solida and Glaucium corniculatum (L.) J. H. Rudolph (Papaveraceae), Rhododendron ponticum L. subsp. ponticum and Rhododendron luteum Sweet. (Ericaceae), Buxus sempervirens L. (Buxaceae), Vicia faba L. (Fabaceae), Robinia pseudoacacia L. (Caeselpiniaceae), Tribulus terrestris L. and Zygophyllum fabago L. (Zygophyllaceae), Lycopodium clavatum L. (Lycopodiaceae), Fumaria vaillantii Lois., Fumaria capreolata L., Fumaria kralikii Jordan, Fumaria asepala Boiss., Fumaria densiflora DC., Fumaria flabellata L., Fumaria petteri Reichb. subsp. thuretii (Boiss.) Pugsley, Fumaria macrocarpa Boiss. ex Hausskn., Fumaria cilicica Hauskkn., Fumaria parviflora Lam. and Fumaria judaica Boiss. (Fumariaceae) were screened for their anticholinesterase activity on acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) enzymes by in vitro Ellman method at 10 microg/ml and 1 mg/ml concentrations. The extracts did not show any noticeable inhibitory activity against both of the enzymes at 10 microg/ml. The extracts of Rhododendron ponticum subsp. ponticum, Rhododendron luteum, Corydalis solida subsp. solida, Glaucium corniculatum, and Buxus sempervirens showed remarkable inhibitory activity above 50% inhibition rate on AChE at 1 mg/ml. Among them, Rhododendron ponticum subsp. ponticum, Corydalis solida subsp. solida and Buxus sempervirens were the most active extracts against BChE having 95.46 +/- 1.03%, 93.08 +/- 0.97%, and 93.45 +/- 0.88% inhibition rates, respectively. Among the extracts screened, all of the Fumaria extracts displayed highly potent inhibition against both of the enzymes at 1 mg/ml concentration compared to the standard.

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