Updating the research on prodelphinidins from dietary sources.

Polyphenols are common constituents of foods of plant origin with thousands of different compounds comprising a wide variety of molecules. Prodelphinidins (PDs) belong to the proanthocyanidin (PA) or condensed tannins sub-group. Not so studied like their similar procyanidins (PCs), PDs have attracted attention over the last years, mostly due to their antioxidant capabilities in biological systems. This review is focused in all PDs detected so far in dietary sources, highlighting the principal features of the detection, synthesis and possible health benefits. Recently, new methodologies for the analysis of dimeric PDs have been achieved through isolation, purification and high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis. Concerning oligomeric and polymeric PDs, spectrometric studies are limited probably owing to their coexistence with a large number of other PA molecules, their low concentration and the high number of isomers.