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Polyphenols are naturally occurring micronutrients that are present in many food sources. Besides being potent antioxidants, these molecules may also possess anti-inflammatory properties. Many studies have highlighted their potential role in the prevention and treatment of various pathological conditions connected to oxidative stress and inflammation (e.g., cancer, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders). Neurodegenerative diseases are globally one of the main causes of death and represent an enormous burden in terms of human suffering, social distress, and economic costs. Recent data expanded on the initial antioxidant-based mechanism of polyphenols&rsquo ; action by showing that they are also able to modulate several cell-signaling pathways and mediators. The proposed benefits of polyphenols, either as protective/prophylactic substances or as therapeutic molecules, may be achieved by the consumption of a natural polyphenol-enriched diet, by their use as food supplements, or with formulations as pharmaceutical drugs/nutraceuticals. It has also been proved that the health effects of polyphenols depend on the consumed amount and their bioavailability. However, their overconsumption may raise safety concerns due to the accumulation of high levels of these molecules in the organism, particularly if we consider the loose regulatory legislation regarding the commercialization and use of food supplements. This review addresses the main beneficial effects of food polyphenols, and focuses on neuroprotection and the safety issues related to overconsumption.

Preface -- Coming of age in the risk society -- Prisoners of the present : obstacles on the road to adulthood -- Insecure intimacies : love, marriage, and family in the risk society -- Hardened selves : the remaking of the American working class -- Inhabiting the mood economy -- Conclusion: the hidden injuries of risk -- Appendix -- References

AbstractThis paper examines how working-class young adults construct their political identities in the wake of the decline of mediating institutions such as stable work, unions, nuclear family structures, and religion. The transition to adulthood has become deinstitutionalized as leaving home, finishing school, finding a good job, and getting married and having children seem increasingly out of reach for contemporary young adults. In the absence of institutionalized rites of passage, respondents must create, within their constraints, the story or narrative in terms of which their lives make sense. Through in-depth interviews with young working-class residents of a declining coal town in northeastern Pennsylvania, I trace how young adults construct narratives that make connections between economic decline, emotional despair, and political realignment. While working-class young adults may inherit political beliefs from their parents, growing up in a time of economic precarity and social division has the potential to disrupt older allegiances and prompt the creation of new identities and social solidarities. I demonstrate how individual strategies for managing suffering organize the young working-class self in ways that justify disengagement from conventional politics and a turn toward self-help and conspiracy theories. I also explore differences within the sample by racial identity and gender identity, tracing how different histories of oppression and differing expectations of moral self-worth possibly contribute to the political realm.