Increasing incidence of chronic diseases in the 21st century has emphasized the importance of developing crops with enhanced nutritional value. Plant-based diets are associated with reduced incidence of many chronic diseases. The growing population and increased food demand have prioritized the development of high-yielding commercial crop varieties at the expense of natural flavors as well as health-benefiting compounds including polyphenols. Flavonoids are a large subfamily of polyphenols abundant in the plant kingdom with known health-promoting effects, making them a promising trait to be re-introduced into elite lines. Given the vast array of flavonoids and the complexity of plant food metabolome interactions, it is difficult to identify with certainty the specific class(es) of flavonoids in the food matrix that are anti-inflammatory. To address this, we have developed four maize near-isogenic lines (NILs); a line that lacked both anthocyanins and phlobaphenes, a second NIL containing phlobaphenes, a third line had anthocyanins, and a fourth line that contained both anthocyanins and phlobaphenes. The phytochemical profiles and the antioxidant potential of the NILs were characterized. The accumulation of anthocyanins and phlobaphenes contributed significantly to antioxidant capacity compared to maize lines that lacked one or both of the compounds (p < 0.05). Pilot study showed that intake of flavonoid-rich maize diets were able to alleviate experimental colitis in mice. These NILs offer novel materials combining anthocyanins and phlobaphenes and can be used as powerful tools to investigate the disease-preventive effects of specific flavonoid compound in diet/feeding experiments.

在21世纪，慢性病的发病率不断增加，强调了开发营养价值更高的农作物的重要性。植物性饮食与许多慢性疾病的发生率降低相关。人口的增长和粮食需求的增加使高产商业作物品种的开发成为优先事项，而天然香料以及有益健康的化合物（包括多酚）的代价却大打折扣。类黄酮是植物界中丰富的多酚类大亚类，具有促进健康的已知作用，使其成为重新引入优良品系的有前途的特征。鉴于类黄酮的种类繁多以及植物食品代谢组间相互作用的复杂性，很难确定食品基质中具有抗炎作用的类黄酮的确切种类。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了四个玉米近等基因系（NILs）。缺少花色苷和苯酚的产品线，第二个NIL包含花青素，第三行包含花青素，第四行同时包含花青素和苯酚。表征了NIL的植物化学特征和抗氧化能力。与缺少一种或两种化合物的花粉相比，花色苷和苯酚的积累显着提高了其抗氧化能力（表征了NIL的植物化学特征和抗氧化能力。与缺少一种或两种化合物的花粉相比，花色苷和苯酚的积累显着提高了其抗氧化能力（表征了NIL的植物化学特征和抗氧化能力。与缺少一种或两种化合物的花粉相比，花色苷和苯酚的积累显着提高了其抗氧化能力（p<0.05）。初步研究表明，摄入富含类黄酮的玉米饮食能够减轻小鼠实验性结肠炎。这些NIL提供了结合花青素和氟苯酚的新颖材料，可以用作研究特定黄酮类化合物在饮食/喂养实验中预防疾病的有力工具。