Abstract

Gallic acid (GA), a polyphenolic compound, has been reported to prevent various diseases. In addition to prescription drugs, nutraceuticals/medicinal foods are progressively included as adjunct of cardiovascular maladies, cancer, hepatitis C, inflammation, HCV infection and neurological disorders, even though most of them have been exclusively studied in vitro. This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects of GA against various diseases. Systematic review of peer review was done. Studies were also identified through literature search using online databases belonging to PubMed and others with key words “Therapeutic effects of Gallic acid” from 2009 to 2017. The search was restricted to original articles, peer reviews published and online databases. The references for relevant publications were reviewed through journals. All the studies were assessed and conducted for methodological quality through reference lists of available literature. This review brings together some recent studies which establish the beneficial properties of polyphenols especially GA against most outbreak diseases and analyzes the mechanisms involved in these properties. The results presented in this review may help to emphasize that this compound could be promising as a new alternative for the treatment of mentioned diseases, either alone or in combination with other drugs or their derivatives to potentiate their effects. Results of the present study demonstrate that GA, an effective supplement, as an adjuvant therapy may be a very promising compound in reducing mortality rate of diseases.

Keywords: Gallic acid; Hepatitis C; Neurological disorders; Inflammation; Cancer; HCV infection