[Biological effects of chlorogenic acid and body health]

Chlorogenic acid, as a phenolic acid, occurs ubiquitously in food. Proved to have a series of biological effects in vitro and in vivo, such as antioxidant capacity, radical scavenging activity, antimutagenic/anticarcinogenic effect, inflammation inhibiting and endothelial protective properties, etc., chlorogenic acid might therefore contribute to body health promotion to some extent, and be hopeful to provide new ways for chronic disease prevention. It's physicochemical properties, food distribution, metabolism information and biological effects are reviewed in this article.