Mulberry ( sāng shèn zǐ), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Taiwan, has many bioactive substances, including polyphenol and anthocyanins compounds. Over the past decade, many scientific and medical studies have examined mulberry fruit for its antioxidation and antiinflammation effects both in vitro and in vivo. This review thus focuses on the recent advances of mulberry extracts (MEs) and their applications in the prevention and treatment of human cancer, liver disease, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The ME modulates several apoptotic pathways and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to block cancer progression. Mulberry can increase detoxicated and antioxidant enzyme activities and regulate the lipid metabolism to treat hepatic disease resulting from alcohol consumption, high fat diet, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and CCl4 exposure. Of the various compounds in ME, cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) is the most abundant, and the active compound studied in mulberry research. Herein, the antioxidant and antiinflammatory actions of C3G to improve diabetes and cardiovascular disease are also discussed. These studies provide strong evidence ME may possess the bioactivity to affect the pathogenesis of several chronic diseases.
