Tannins medical / pharmacological and related applications: A critical review

Abstract

Tannins are natural phenolic compounds that are widespread and almost ubiquitous in the vegetal world. They can be found in fruit, wood and bark of trees, and many types of wild herbs and plants or from sustainable agriculture and forestry. Their traditional use for leather has been doubled for centuries in the popular medical and pharmacological lore by their use to cure or alleviate a variety of infections and diseases. This has indicated to modern researchers that these materials possess a great potential for the use in modern medicine and pharmacy. This review, after an introduction on tannins their structures and their basic chemistry describe what modern researchers have been able to glean and demonstrate of their real, identified and quantified effects on various diseases, from their bactericidal, anticancer and antinflammatory actions to the many other effects that putsnow in more close focus in pharmacology.