The unique and vast pharmacological activities of flavonoids have made them of research interest. This led to the use of various techniques to isolate and characterize them, intending to determine their potential health benefits. The medicinal values of plant-based flavonoids that this literature review tends to summarize the pharmacological activities of these secondary metabolites from 22 selected plant families. The pharmacological shreds of evidence reported in the literature have proven that flavonoids have shown anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-ulcer, and anti-edematogenic activities. Out of these, 30% showed to have anti-oxidant activity, key in protecting the body against free radicals. Besides, 18% of the references showed anti-microbial and anti-cancer activities. Further literature reports indicated that flavonoids from these families exhibited anti-inflammatory and anti-edematogenic (9%), anti-viral and anti-ulcer (5%), anti-fungal, anti-nociceptive, and anti-histamine (2%). The pharmacological activities of flavonoids from the various sources reviewed in this study show that the secondary metabolites could provide a scaffold for the development of potent anti-cancer drugs in the future.

中文翻译：

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类黄酮：分离、表征和健康益处

黄酮类化合物独特而广泛的药理活性使它们引起了研究兴趣。这导致使用各种技术来分离和表征它们，旨在确定它们的潜在健康益处。本文献综述倾向于总结来自 22 个选定植物科的这些次生代谢产物的药理活性。文献中报道的药理学证据证明，黄酮类化合物具有抗癌、抗微生物、抗氧化、抗炎、抗真菌、抗溃疡和抗水肿的活性。其中，30% 显示具有抗氧化活性，这是保护身体免受自由基侵害的关键。此外，18% 的参考文献显示出抗微生物和抗癌活性。进一步的文献报道表明，来自这些家族的黄酮类化合物具有抗炎和抗水肿 (9%)、抗病毒和抗溃疡 (5%)、抗真菌、抗伤害和抗组胺 (2%) . 本研究综述的各种来源的黄酮类化合物的药理活性表明，次级代谢产物可以为未来开发有效的抗癌药物提供支架。