What are Flavonoids?

Flavonoids are a group of substances found in plants which prevents the cancer forming. There are three important groups and they are flavonoids, isoflavonoids and neoflavonoids. These are known for their strong anti-oxidant activity.

The flavonoids have less toxicity and this is the reason for cancer prevention. The body sees flavonoids as foreign substances and with the help of the detoxification system these are excreted. In the same process cancer producing substances are also eliminated. Small amount is necessary for this purpose in our body and high dose supplements are not recommended.

More than 5,000 flavonoids from various plants are isolated and characterized in different groups. This number can go up in future. Few rich sources of flavonoids include:

• Grapefruit - There are six flavonoids found in this citrus fruit including quercetin and they increase the intracellular levels of vitamin C, has positive effects on capillary permeability and blood flow.

• Ginkgo – The active ingredient of ginkgo is flavoglycosides and is extracted from the ginkgo leaves. It is also sold as herbal supplement.

• Green Tea – Catechins and epigallocatechins are potent antioxidants and these may help to prevent cancer. But black tea does not have catechin because it is lost by oxidation during the processing.

• Bitter Chocolate – bitter chocolate from cacao contains also flavonoids.

• Wine - Flavonoids as well as polyphenols are found on grape skins and both red and white wine contain the flavonoids. Red wine contains more flavonaids and other polyphenols such as resveratrol.

Most of the flavonoids are important but quercetin and epicatechin are in the upper part of the list. Quercetin is anti-cancer agent and is also a strong antioxidant.

Bitter chocolate has epicatechin which supports heart by improving the blood flow.

White Wine, Dry

White wines are as good as red wines, but the anti-oxidants and polyphenols and flavonoids concentrations are low in white wine. The health benefit and the disadvantage of the alcohol are the same.

The nutrients in 100 g white wine, dry include:

• Water – 88.4 g
• Alcohol - 8.6 g
• Protein – 0.2 g
• Fat – nil
• Carbohydrates – 2.6 g
• Organic acids – Malic acid 355 mg, lactic acid 170 mg, citric acid 14 mg tartaric acid 140 mg,, oxalic acid 1.7 mg, Salicylic acid 0.63 mg
• Fibre – nil
• Minerals - 0.2 g – sodium 2 mg, potassium 80 mg, magnesium 10 mg, calcium 9 mg, iron 600 micro g, copper 70 micro g, zinc 230 micro g
• Vitamins - vitamins B1, B2, B6, nicotine amide, pantothenic acid, biotin, and folic acid – all are only in traces.

One glass white wine is good to reduce the blood pressure, but if you drink more the blood pressure increases. That is why never try to use alcohol to reduce the blood pressure.

The dose makes the poison.