plants Review Pharmacological Exploration of Phenolic Compound: Raspberry Ketone—Update 2020 Shailaja Rao 1,†, Mallesh Kurakula 2,*,† , Nagarjuna Mamidipalli 3, Papireddy Tiyyagura 4, Bhaumik Patel 5 and Ravi Manne 6 1 Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA;
[email protected] 2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA 3 Analytical R&D, Akron Inc., Lake Forest, IL 60045, USA;
[email protected] 4 Analytical R&D, BioDuro LLC, San Diego, CA 92121, USA;
[email protected] 5 Product Development Department, Cure Pharmaceutical Corporation, Los Angeles, CA 90025, USA;
[email protected] 6 Chemtex Environmental Laboratory, Quality Control and Assurance Department, Port Arthur, TX 77642, USA;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] † Authors have contributed equally. Abstract: Raspberry ketone (RK) is an aromatic phenolic compound naturally occurring in red raspberries, kiwifruit, peaches, and apples and reported for its potential therapeutic and nutraceu- tical properties. Studies in cells and rodents have suggested an important role for RK in hep- atic/cardio/gastric protection and as an anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-obesity, depigmentation, and sexual maturation agent. Raspberry ketone-mediated activation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) stands out as one of its main modes of action. Although rodent studies have demonstrated the efficacious effects of RK, its mechanism remains largely unknown. In spite of a Citation: Rao, S.; Kurakula, M.; lack of reliable human research, RK is marketed as a health supplement, at very high doses. In this Mamidipalli, N.; Tiyyagura, P.; Patel, review, we provide a compilation of scientific research that has been conducted so far, assessing B.; Manne, R.