Current Knowledge of the Health-promoting Effects of Fustin – a Mini-review

Fustin is a bioactive flavanonol, found in high concentrations in Cotinus coggygria (European smoketree) heartwood and in Toxicodendron vernicifluum (lacquer tree) [1].However, little is known about its health benefits.The objective of this paper was to summarize the current evidence about the health-promoting effects of fustin, registered in animal and human studies.In order to sum up the available data, a research was carried out in the global database Pubmed for published articles, related to the topic, in the period between 2015 and January 2024 using the keyword "fustin".A total of 64 articles were found and after careful reviewing, 53 of them were ruled out due to lack of relevance to the topic.Fustin was documented to exert ulcer-preventive [2], anticancer [3], antidiabetic [3], antibacterial [3] and neuroprotective [4] effects in experimental studies.Clinical trials were scarce and anti-fibrotic effect was the only pharmacological activity documented in one human study [5].These effects were ascribed to the antioxidant and antiinflammatory activities of the flavonoid [6].Additional studies are required to investigate the health-beneficial effects of fustin both in experimental and clinical settings.