Homoeriodictyol, a naturally occurring, bitter-masking flavanone, as a promising agent to increase appetite and food intake. The flavanone homoeriodictyol can increase SGLT-1-mediated glucose uptake but decrease serotonin release in differentiated Caco-2 cells.

In contrast to other polyphenols, the flavanon Homoeriodictyol promotes glucose uptake by 29.0 ± 3.83% at a concentration of 100 μM. The glucose uptake stimulating effect was sensitive to phloridzin, but not to phloretin, indicating an involvement of the sodium-coupled glucose transporter SGLT-1, but not of sodium-independent glucose transporters (GLUT). In addition, in contrast to the increased extracellular serotonin levels by stimulation with 500 mM D-(+)-glucose, treatment with 100 μM Homoeriodictyol decreased serotonin release by -48.8 ± 7.57% in Caco-2 cells via a phloridzin-sensitive signaling pathway. Extracellular serotonin levels were also reduced by -57.1 ± 5.43% after application of 0.01 μM Homoeriodictyol to human neural SH-SY5Y cells.