Rosmarinus officinalis contains diterpene phenols and diterpene quinones, such as carnosic acid and carnosol, exhibiting a wide range of biological activities. This paper reviews the latest papers about the diterpenoid compounds isolated from R. officinalis, and summaries the activities and mechanisms of them. It is found that 40 out of 62 diterpenoids in R. officinalis have anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and neuroprotective effects. For them, the anti-oxidant involves the signaling pathway of Nrf2-HO-1/NQO-1, while the anti-inflammatory involves NF-κB, MAPK and Nrf2, the anti-tumor mechanisms involves Bcl-2, Akt/IKK/NF-κB and ATG, the neuroprotection involves PINK1/parkin and SIRT1/p66shc pathways. This will benefit to the full utilization of R. officinalis in the human health protection.

Hyperlipidemia is a kind of lipid metabolism disease, whose pathogenesis is complex and diverse, mainly related to abnormal glucose and lipid metabolism, as well as insulin resistance and other characteristics. Because of their low toxic and side effects along with clear medicinal effects, the food and medicinal homological resources are widely used in the regulation of blood lipids in recent years. The State Administration for Market Regulation website and various databases have been searched for the use of food and medicinal homological materials in functional food products, the categories and frequency in food and medicinal homological resources, the lipid-lowering active ingredients and their mechanisms. The results showed that 53 kinds of food and medicinal homological resources were used to regulate blood lipids, of which Crataegus pinnatifida Bge., Cassia obtusifolia L., Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn., Morus alba L. and Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi were used most frequently. The main active ingredients are triterpenes and their glycosides, flavonoids, alkaloids and polysaccharides, etc., they regulated blood lipid levels and cholesterol metabolism by activating AMPK and PPARγ.