Food scientists have studied the many health benefits of polyphenols against pernicious human diseases. Evidence from scientific studies has shown that earlier healthy lifestyle changes, particularly in nutrition patterns, can reduce the burden of age-related diseases. In this context, a large number of plant-derived components belonging to the class of polyphenols have been reported to possess neuroprotective benefits. In this review, we examined studies on the effect of dietary polyphenols, notably from Punica granatum L., on neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer's disease, which is symptomatically characterized by impairment of cognitive functions. Clinical trials are in favor of the role of some polyphenols in maintaining neuronal homeostasis and attenuating clinical presentations of the disease. However, discrepancies in study design often bring inconsistent findings on the same component and display differences in their effectiveness due to interindividual variability, bioavailability in the body after administration, molecular structures, cross-blood-brain barrier, and signaling pathways such as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). Based on preclinical and clinical trials, it appears that pomegranate may prove valuable in treating neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Therefore, due to the lack of information on human clinical trials, future in-depth studies, focusing on human beings, of several bioactive components of pomegranate's polyphenols and their synergic effects should be carried out to evaluate their curative treatment.
Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Punica granatum L.; neurodegenerative diseases; polyphenols.