Natural Activators of Autophagy

Autophagy is the process by which cell contents, such as aggregated proteins, dysfunctional organelles, and cell structures are sequestered by autophagosome and delivered to lysosomes for degradation. As a process that allows the cell to get rid of non-functional components that tend to accumulate with age, autophagy has been associated with many human diseases. In this regard, the search for autophagy activators and the study of their mechanism of action is an important task for treatment of many diseases, as well as for increasing healthy life expectancy. Plants are rich sources of autophagy activators, containing large amounts of polyphenolic compounds in their composition, which can be autophagy activators in their original form, or can be metabolized by the intestinal microbiota to active compounds. This review is devoted to the plant-based autophagy activators with emphasis on the sources of their production, mechanism of action, and application in various diseases. The review also describes companies commercializing natural autophagy activators.