Prolonging the healthy life span and limiting neurological illness are imperative goals in gerontology. Age-related neurodegeneration is progressive and leads to severe diseases affecting motility, memory, cognitive function, and social life. To date, no effective treatments are available for neurodegeneration and irreversible neuronal loss. Bioactive phytochemicals could represent a natural alternative to ensure active aging and slow onset of neurodegenerative diseases in elderly patients. Autophagy or macroautophagy is an evolutionarily conserved clearing process that is needed to remove aggregate-prone proteins and organelles in neurons and glia. It also is crucial in synaptic plasticity. Aberrant autophagy has a key role in aging and neurodegeneration. Recent evidence indicates that polyphenols like resveratrol and curcumin, flavonoids, like quercetin, polyamine, like spermidine and sugars, like trehalose, limit brain damage in vitro and in vivo. Their common mechanism of action leads to restoration of efficient autophagy by dismantling misfolded proteins and dysfunctional mitochondria. This review focuses on the role of dietary phytochemicals as modulators of autophagy to fight Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, fronto-temporal dementia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and psychiatric disorders. Currently, most studies have involved in vitro or preclinical animal models, and the therapeutic use of phytochemicals in patients remains limited.

延长健康寿命和限制神经系统疾病是老年医学的当务之急。与年龄有关的神经退行性疾病是进行性的，并导致影响运动性，记忆力，认知功能和社交生活的严重疾病。迄今为止，尚无有效的神经变性和不可逆性神经元丧失治疗方法。具有生物活性的植物化学物质可以代表自然的选择，以确保老年患者的主动衰老和神经退行性疾病的缓慢发作。自噬或宏观自噬是一种进化上保守的清除过程，需要清除神经元和神经胶质中易于聚集的蛋白质和细胞器。这对于突触可塑性也至关重要。异常自噬在衰老和神经变性中起关键作用。最近的证据表明，白藜芦醇和姜黄素，类黄酮，体外 和 体内。它们共同的作用机制通过消除错误折叠的蛋白质和功能异常的线粒体而导致有效的自噬恢复。这篇综述着重于饮食中植物化学物质作为自噬调节剂对抗阿尔茨海默氏病和帕金森氏病，额颞痴呆，肌萎缩性侧索硬化症和精神病的作用。目前，大多数研究涉及体外 或临床前动物模型，并且植物化学药品在患者中的治疗用途仍然有限。