title: Natural Products to Counteract the Epidemic of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disorders.
abstract: Natural products have always been exploited to promote health and served as a valuable source for the discovery of new drugs. In this review, the great potential of natural compounds and medicinal plants for the treatment or prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, global health problems with rising prevalence, is addressed. Special emphasis is laid on natural products for which efficacy and safety have already been proven and which are in clinical trials, as well as on plants used in traditional medicine. Potential benefits from certain dietary habits and dietary constituents, as well as common molecular targets of natural products, are also briefly discussed. A glimpse at the history of statins and biguanides, two prominent representatives of natural products (or their derivatives) in the fight against metabolic disease, is also included. The present review aims to serve as an "opening" of this special issue of Molecules, presenting key historical developments, recent advances, and future perspectives outlining the potential of natural products for prevention or therapy of cardiovascular and metabolic disease.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Pharmacy/Pharmacognosy and Center for Molecular Biosciences Innsbruck (CMBI), University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria; birgit.waltenberger@uibk.ac.at.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Waltenberger
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Iuliu Haţieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania; mocan.andrei@umfcluj.ro.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mocan
authors.affiliation: Department of Natural Drugs, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic; karel.mejkal@post.cz.
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Šmejkal
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria; elke.heiss@univie.ac.at.
authors.forename: Elke H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Heiss
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacognosy, University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria; elke.heiss@univie.ac.at.|Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 05-552 Jastrzebiec, Poland.
authors.forename: Atanas G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Atanasov
mesh_terms: D001645:Biguanides / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001688:Biological Products / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D055808:Drug Discovery; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
chemical_list: D001645:Biguanides; D001688:Biological Products; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors
keywords: biguanides; cardiovascular disease; coffee; diabetes mellitus; dietary constituents; metabolic disorders; molecular targets; natural products; statins