Bioflavonoids What are bioflavonoids?
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For those who have been hearing a lot about bioflavonoids, it might be helpful to know a little bit more about these relatively unfamiliar nutrients. Bioflavonoids are present in a lot of plant foods and extracts. Fresh fruits and vegetables have their share, as do many traditional medicinal herbs. Bioflavonoids can be part of an active raw food diet, or taken as dietary supplements. These powerful health boosters have a range of positive effects on the body.
Known as Vitamin P is remarkable for many reasons, it isn’t a vitamin per se, but is a variety of bioflavonoids. This speaks volumes for its broad range of attributes. Bioflavonoids address most health conditions and come from multiple natural sources.
Vitamin P was discovered by Nobel Price winning scientist Albert Szent-Gyorgyi in1936. Vitamin P is also known as flavonoids.
Scientists have identified over 4,000 flavonoids. Vitamin P fuels your body with life-changing botanical elements. Bioflavonoids are the most natural concentrated source of nutrients linked to the function of every cell in your body.
These are a few of the bioflavonoids: quercetin, rutin, myricetin, apigenin, hesperin, hesperidin, luteolin, catechin, eriodictyol, cyaniding and others. Each has an effect on human health, which is why vitamin P’s range of health benefits is so broad.
Bioflavonoids have been used in alternative medicine as an aid to enhance the action of vitamin C, to support blood circulation, as an antioxidant, and to treat allergies, viruses, or arthritis and other inflammatory conditions.
Bioflavonoids work with other antioxidants to offer a system of protection. Numerous studies have shown their unique role in protecting vitamin C from oxidation in the body, thereby allowing the body to reap more benefits from vitamin C. Bioflavonoids are present in all botanical supplement products and foods. In fact, many medicinal herbs owe their curative actions to the bioflavonoids they contain. Besides the important antioxidant effects, bioflavonoids help the body maintain health and function in many ways. They have been shown to be anti-mutagenic, anti-carcinogenic, anti-aging, and promote structure and function in the circulatory system.
Bioflavonoids Health Benefits
The main health benefits of bioflavonoids fall into two categories: health-promoting effects and therapeutic effects. The health-promoting effects include better eyesight, improved cardiovascular health, increased capillary strength, improved structure of connective tissues and appearance of skin, and a stronger immune system.
Bioflavonoids also offer the health-promoting effect of lowering the risk of some diseases, such as atherosclerosis, cancer, arthritis, and gastrointestinal disorders. Bioflavonoids according to some of the latest scientific findings are responsible for an infinite array of protective effects. The list of benefits include: better circulation, stimulates bile production, prevents and may reverse cataracts, strengthens capillaries, reduces stroke risk, and lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol. Treats varicose veins, glaucoma, hay fever, hemorrhoids, and reduces allergy symptoms.
Food Sources
The dietary options include the most commonly eaten foods. Take a bite out of just about any whole food and you are harvesting the benefits of bioflavonoids. Vitamin P is essential to the absorption and utilization of vitamin C.
One of the best places to find bioflavonoids is in vitamin C rich foods such as citrus. The perfect way to get vitamin P and C together is in oranges, grapefruits, lemons, tangerines, and tangelos. The vitamin P is in the white material beneath the citrus peel. Tangerines are the easiest way to get vitamin P; the white part stays on each section.
Other vitamin P-rich foods include green peppers, broccoli, buckwheat, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, cacao, and red wine. The unrivaled list of foods with some bioflavonoids include: apples, apricots, black currants, cherries, grapes, green tea, milk thistle, onions, paprika, strawberries, tomatoes, mango, and prunes.
It would seem that this list would ensure that everyone had the required amount of vitamin P to stay healthy. On the standard American diet we can come up on short end of just about any nutrient. There are substances that can deplete our store of vitamin P. These are smoking, alcohol consumption, aspirin, prescriptive antibiotics, painkillers, cortisone, and of course a high sugar diet.