Epicatechin (EC) is a natural plant flavanol compound:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Basic Information<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chemical formula: C15H14O6<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Molecular weight: 290.27<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CAS No.: 490-46-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EINECS No.: 207-710-1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appearance: White crystal<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Storage condition: 2~8\u00b0C<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Melting point: 240\u00b0C<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solubility: soluble in water, methanol<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Structural characteristics<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Epicatechin belongs to the class of catechins and has the basic flavanol-3-ol molecular structure of catechin. Its basic structure is 2-phenylbenzopyran, a kind of polycyclic macromolecular structure with low symmetry, A, B, C3 rings constitute the mother ring of epicatechin, each ring is connected with hydroxyl group, and there is intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The specific characteristics are as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Distribution and source<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition, it is also present in large quantities in lychee, propolis, beer, grape seed, red wine and other foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Pharmacological effects<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Antioxidant effect: Epicatechin has the function of scavenging free radicals and lipid radicals with high efficiency, and its antioxidant activity is believed to be through the ability to provide phenolic hydrogen atoms in the A and B rings to capture chain-carrying free radicals. The presence of phenolic hydroxyl groups in the molecular structure of epicatechin, especially the neighbouring hydroxyl groups in catechol or o-benzenetriol, can be easily oxidised to a quinone structure, giving it a high capacity to capture free radicals such as reactive oxygen species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic and reduced insulin resistance: Addition of epicatechin to the diet of adult rats fed a high fructose diet reduced the impairment of insulin signalling cascades (IR, IRK-1. Akt, ERK1\/2), as well as the up-regulation of negative regulators (PKC, IKK, JNK, and PTP1B) in the adipose tissue of the rats. This suggests that epicatechin attenuates insulin resistance through its redox-regulatory mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: Epicatechin-added mice showed a 27% reduction in the area of atherosclerotic lesions as compared to the control group of mice fed a high cholesterol diet, as well as inhibition of diet-induced formation of plasma SAA and human-CRP, with no effect on plasma lipids. This suggests that epicatechin has anti-atherogenic effects that are specific for the type of severe injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anti-inflammatory effect: epicatechin has a significant anti-inflammatory effect, inhibiting the production and release of inflammatory factors, thus reducing the inflammatory response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neuroprotective: Epicatechin has a protective effect on the nervous system, relieving neuroinflammation and nerve damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bacteriostatic effect: epicatechin has a broad-spectrum bacteriostatic effect, and has an inhibitory effect on a variety of pathogenic bacteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Application prospects<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since epicatechin has various pharmacological effects, it has a wide range of application prospects in the fields of medicine, health products, food and so on. For example, in the field of medicine, epicatechin can be used in the treatment of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other diseases; in the field of health care products, epicatechin can be used as antioxidants, lipid and glucose lowering agents; in the field of food, epicatechin can be used as a natural preservative, antioxidant and so on, and added to the food.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Epicatechin (EC) is a natural plant flavanol compound: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1844,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1845,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1841\/revisions\/1845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citrusflavonoids.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}