The plant-based nutraceuticals are receiving increasing interest in recent time. The high attraction to the phytochemicals is associated with their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, which can lead to reduced risk of the development of cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases. One of the most disseminated groups of plant bioactives are phenolic compounds. It was recently hypothesized that phenolic compounds can have the ability to improve the functioning of the gut barrier. The available studies showed that one of the polyphenols, resveratrol, has great potential to improve the integrity of the gut barrier. Very promising results have been obtained with in vitro and animal models. Still, more clinical trials must be performed to evaluate the effect of resveratrol on the gut barrier, especially in individuals with increased intestinal permeability. Moreover, the interplay between phenolic compounds, intestinal microbiota and gut barrier should be carefully evaluated in the future. Therefore, this review offers an overview of the current knowledge about the interaction between polyphenols with a special emphasis on resveratrol and the gut barrier, summarizes the available methods to evaluate the intestinal permeability, discusses the current research gaps and proposes the directions for future studies in this research area.
Keywords: gut barrier; intestinal permeability; leaky gut; polyphenols; resveratrol.