Zhang Yuehong, Jin De, An Xuedong, Duan Liyun, Duan Yingying, Lian Fengmei
Department of Endocrinology, Guang'anmen Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
Clinical department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing, China.
Front Pharmacol. 2021 Oct 8;12:737803. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2021.737803. eCollection 2021.
Food is people's primal want. A reasonable diet and healthy food not only provide nutrients for human growth but also contribute to disease prevention and treatment, while following an unhealthy diet can lead to an increased risk of many diseases, especially metabolic disorders, such as diabetes. Nature is enriched with different food sources, and it seems that purely natural products are more in line with the current concept of health, which enhance the formation of the notion that "Food/Diet Supplements from Natural Sources as a Medicine." As a delicious fruit, the medicinal values such as anticancer, antibacterial, antioxidation, and antiglycating properties of lychee have been found. Lychee ( in Chinese) is a subtropical fruit plant belonging to the family Sapindaceae. It has been widely cultivated in warm climates worldwide, particularly in China, for thousands of years. In recent years, various phytochemical components such as quercetin, procyanidin A2, and (2R)-naringenin-7-O-(3-O-αL-rhamnopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranoside) have been identified in a lychee seed, which may lend a lychee seed as a relatively safe and inexpensive adjuvant treatment for diabetes and diabetic complications. In fact, accumulating evidence has shown that lychee seed, lychee seed extracts, and related compounds have promising antihyperglycemic activities, including improving insulin resistance, anti-inflammatory effect, lipid regulation, neuroprotection, antineurotoxic effect, and renoprotection effect. In this review, we summarized publications on antiglycemic effects and mechanisms of lychee seed, lychee seed extracts, and related compounds, which included their efficacies as a cure for diabetes and diabetic complications in cells, animals, and humans, attempting to obtain a robust evidence basis for the clinical application and value of lychee seed.
食物是人类的基本需求。合理的饮食和健康的食物不仅为人类生长提供营养，还有助于疾病的预防和治疗，而不健康的饮食则会增加多种疾病的风险，尤其是代谢紊乱，如糖尿病。自然界中有丰富多样的食物来源，似乎纯天然产品更符合当前的健康观念，这强化了“天然来源的食品/膳食补充剂可作为药物”这一观念的形成。作为一种美味的水果，荔枝已被发现具有抗癌、抗菌、抗氧化和抗糖化等药用价值。荔枝（中文）是一种属于无患子科的亚热带水果植物。数千年来，它在全球温暖气候地区广泛种植，尤其是在中国。近年来，荔枝种子中已鉴定出多种植物化学成分，如槲皮素、原花青素A2和(2R)-柚皮素-7-O-(3-O-α-L-鼠李糖基-β-D-葡萄糖苷)，这可能使荔枝种子成为一种相对安全且廉价的糖尿病及糖尿病并发症辅助治疗方法。事实上，越来越多的证据表明，荔枝种子、荔枝种子提取物及相关化合物具有有前景的降血糖活性，包括改善胰岛素抵抗、抗炎作用、脂质调节、神经保护、抗神经毒性作用和肾脏保护作用。在本综述中，我们总结了关于荔枝种子、荔枝种子提取物及相关化合物的抗血糖作用和机制的出版物，其中包括它们在细胞、动物和人体中治疗糖尿病及糖尿病并发症的疗效，试图为荔枝种子的临床应用和价值获得有力的证据基础。
