Ellagic acid is a naturally occurring polyphenol found in some fruits and nuts including blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, cranberries, walnuts, pecans, pomegranates, wolfberry, and other plant foods, is one of the well-studied phytochemicals. It’s also in red wine, grape juice, and green tea.
In particular, berries provide ellagic acid in the form of ellagitannins, which constitute ∼60% (red raspberry) to 80% (cloudberry) of the total phenolic compounds present. There is emerging evidence that ellagic acid may decrease symptoms of chronic metabolic diseases, including dyslipidemia, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Ellagic acid also possesses antioxidant, antimutagenic, and anticancer properties.
Ellagic acid reduces systolic blood pressure, through upregulating the endothelial nitric oxide synthase; this effect increases the bioavailability of nitric oxide, a decrease associated with endothelial dysfunction and an increase of blood pressure.
Due to a wide range of biological effects of ellagic acid, edible plants containing this phytochemical and its hydrolysable derivatives, mainly ellagitannins, are a valuable source of ellagic acid for humans and belong to functional foods that promote health and may reduce the risk of disease.
Ellagic acid –fruits and vegetables polyphenol
