Growing evidence support that insulin resistance may occur as a severe problem due to chronic energetic overfeeding and subsequent obesity. When an abundance of glucose and saturated fat enter the cell, impaired blood flow, hypoxia, inflammation and macrophage infiltration in obese adipose tissue may induce oxidative stress and insulin resistance. Excessive circulating saturated fatty acids ectopically accumulate in insulin-sensitive tissues and impair insulin action. In this context, excessive hepatic lipid accumulation may play a central, pathogenic role in insulin resistance. It is thought that dietary polyphenols may ameliorate obesity-related insulin resistance by attenuating inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. The most often occurring natural polyphenolic compounds are flavonoids. In this review, the possible mechanistic effect of flavonoid-rich natural products on insulin resistance-related metabolic pathways is discussed. Polyphenol intake can prevent high-fat-diet-induced insulin resistance via cell surface G protein-coupled estrogen receptors by upregulating the expression of related genes, and their pathways, which are responsible for the insulin sensitivity.

越来越多的证据表明，由于长期的精力充沛和随后的肥胖，胰岛素抵抗可能会成为一个严重的问题。当大量的葡萄糖和饱和脂肪进入细胞时，肥胖的脂肪组织中的血流受损，缺氧，炎症和巨噬细胞浸润可能会诱导氧化应激和胰岛素抵抗。过量的循环饱和脂肪酸在胰岛素敏感性组织中异位累积并损害胰岛素作用。在这种情况下，肝脂质过多积聚可能在胰岛素抵抗中发挥重要的致病作用。人们认为，饮食中的多酚可通过减轻炎症反应和氧化应激来改善与肥胖有关的胰岛素抵抗。最常见的天然多酚化合物是类黄酮。在这篇评论中，讨论了富含类黄酮的天然产物对胰岛素抵抗相关代谢途径的可能机理。多酚摄入可通过上调负责胰岛素敏感性的相关基因及其通路的表达，通过细胞表面G蛋白偶联的雌激素受体来预防高脂饮食诱导的胰岛素抵抗。