An overview of research on litchi functional role and its active substances

Health-promoting effects and medical functions of litchi tissues have been well documented in China since ancient times. Modern medicine,nutrition science,phytochemistry and pharmacology provide sound evidences of litchi's health promoting and medical functions,and functional compounds in the fruit are being discovered. This paper makes an overview of the studies related to the functional compounds and their functional roles including antioxidant activities in litchi fruit tissues, heating effect and allergens in the flesh,anticancer effect of the peel,and anti-cancer,antivirus and diabetes-controlling effects of the seed.