What are Flavonoids?

Flavonoids, also referred to as bioflavonoids, are polyphenol antioxidants found naturally in plants. They are secondary metabolites, meaning they are organic compounds that have no direct involvement with the growth or development of plants. More simply put, flavonoids are plant nutrients that when consumed in the form of fruits and vegetables are non-toxic as well as potentially beneficial to the human body. Flavonoids are widely disbursed throughout plants and are what give the flowers and fruits of many plants their vibrant colors. They also play a role in protecting the plants from microbe and insect attacks. More importantly, the consumption of foods containing flavonoids has been linked to numerous health benefits. Though research shows flavonoids alone provide minimal antioxidant benefit due to slow absorption by the body, there is indication that they biologically trigger the production of natural enzymes that fight disease. more :  http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-flavonoids.htm

Usual Dosage And Side Effect Of Flavonoid

Usual dosage

Doses of flavonoids will differ depending on the type of flavonoid used and the specific condition. To boost general long term health, the best bet is a flavonoid mixture which is a combination of several types including the quercetin, rutin, and the hesperidins. The dosage instructions written on the product label must be followed. A dose of five hundred mg of quercetin taken thrice a day is sufficient for dealing with all kinds of allergies, chronic asthma, gout, and insect bites.
Flavonoids are found in high amounts in the extracts of grape seeds and in green tea, these induce a potent antioxidant effect at the cellular level and are extremely beneficial for health. To boost the beneficial protective action of the flavonoids, they are usually combined with the vitamin C in supplements - this may also improve the taste. The ideal time to consume supplements of quercetin is twenty minutes before meals; the other types of flavonoids can be consumed at any time of the day for a variety of problems.

Side effects and cautions

The use of flavonoids in supplements is not linked to any known side effects, and there are no toxicities, adverse reactions, related to the use of supplemental flavonoids to date. They are quite safe.
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Uses Of Flavonoids

As they are capable of inhibiting changes in the body that can cause blockages in the arteries, the flavonoids quercetin and the PCOs may be able to protect against the development of certain types of heart disease and related circulatory disorders; these flavonoid compounds are also helpful in that they strengthen and maintain the integrity of various blood vessels in the body in a variety of ways - precluding the onset of diseases. The benefits of a high flavonoid diet were confirmed in recent studies conducted in Finland and the Netherlands, in these tests, people who generally obtained large amounts of flavonoids, especially quercetin, in the duet tended to have a reduced risk of developing heart disease or suffering from a stroke. For example, the results from one specific study, where subjects were kept on a diet high in flavonoids, the chances of any of them dying from heart disease was reduced by a fifty per cent in the tested women and by a factor of twenty three percent in the tested men. The results from another study showed that the highest flavonoid intake led to a drop in the risk of stroke for men by a factor of seventy five per cent when compared to the men who had the lowest supplemental levels.
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Health Benefits of Flavonoids

Flavonoids have antioxidant activity. Flavonoids are becoming very popular because they have many health promoting effects. Some of the activities attributed to flavonoids include: anti-allergic, anti-cancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-viral. The flavonoids quercetin is known for its ability to relieve hay fever, eszema, sinusitis and asthma.
Epidemiological studies have illustrated that heart diseases are inversely related to flavonoid intake. Studies have shown that flavonoids prevent the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein thereby reducing the risk for the development of atherosclerosis.
The contribution of flavonoids to the total antioxidant activity of components in food can be very high because daily intake can vary between 50 to 500 mg.
Red wine contains high levels of flavonoids, mainly quercetin and rutin. The high intake of red wine (and flavonoids) by the French might explain why they suffer less from coronary heart disease then other Europeans, although their consumption of cholesterol rich foods is higher (French paradox). Many studies have confirmed that one or two glasses of red wine daily can protect against heart disease.
Tea flavonoids have many health benefits. Tea flavonoids reduce the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein, lowers the blood levels of cholesterol and triglycerides.
Soy flavonoids (isoflavones) can also reduce blood cholesterol and can help to prevent osteoporis. Soy flavonoids are also used to ease menopausal symptoms.

Distribution

Flavonoids are found in most plant material. The most important dietary sources are fruits, tea and soybean. Green and black tea contains about 25% percent flavonoids. Other important sources of flavonoids are apple (quercetin), citrus fruits (rutin and hesperidin),
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What is Flavonoids?

Flavonoid

 Flavonoids are water soluble polyphenolic molecules containing 15 carbon atoms. Flavonoids belong to the polyphenol family. Flavanoids can be visualized as two benzene rings which are joined together with a short three carbon chain. One of the carbons of the short chain is always connected to a carbon of one of the benzene rings, either directly or through an oxygen bridge, thereby forming a third middle ring, which can be five or six-membered. The flavonoids consist of 6 major subgroups: chalcone, flavone, flavonol, flavanone, anthocyanins and isoflavonoids.
Together with carotenes, flavanoids are also responsible for the coloring of fruits, vegetables and herbs.

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Phytochemicals ( Noni Benefit )

The history of published medical research on noni phytochemicals numbers only around a total of 110 reports, which began appearing in the 1950s (searched in September 2008). Just since 2000, over 100 publications on noni have been published in medical literature, defining a relatively young research field. Noni benefits research is at a preliminary stage, as it is mainly still in the laboratory as in vitro or basic animal experiments.

Noni fruit contains noni benefits phytochemicals for which there are no established DRI values. Examples:

  * lignans - a group of phytoestrogens having biological activities shown by in vitro experiments
  * oligo- and polysaccharides - long-chain sugar molecules that serve a prebiotic function as dietary fiber fermentable by colonic bacteria, yielding short chain fatty acids with numerous potential health properties not yet defined by scientific research on noni
  * flavonoids - phenolic compounds such as rutin and asperulosidic acid, common in several Rubiaceae plants
  * iridoids - secondary metabolites found in many plants
  * trisaccharide fatty acid esters, "noniosides" - resulting from combination of an alcohol and an acid in noni fruit
  * free fatty acids - most prominent in noni fruit are caprylic acid and hexanoic acid, responsible for unique pungent (cheese-like) aroma of ripe noni fruit
  * scopoletin - may have antibiotic activities; research is preliminary
  * catechin and epicatechin
  * beta-sitosterol - a plant sterol with potential for anti-cholesterol activity not yet proven in human research
  * damnacanthal - a potentially toxic anthraquinone, putatively an inhibitor of HIV viral proteins
  * alkaloids - naturally occurring amines from plants. Some internet references mention xeronine or proxeronine as important noni constituents. However, as no reports on either of these substances exist in published medical literature, the terms are scientifically unrecognized. Further, chemical analysis of commercially processed juice did not reveal presence of any alkaloids.

Although there is evidence from in vitro studies and laboratory models for bioactivity of each of the above phytochemicals, the research remains at best preliminary and too early to conclude anything about human health benefits provided by noni or its juice. Furthermore, these phytochemicals are not unique to noni, as nearly all exist in various plant foods.

Laboratory experiments demonstrated that dietary noni juice increased physical endurance in mice. A pilot study in distance runners showed increased endurance capacity following daily intake of noni juice over three weeks, an effect the authors attributed to increased antioxidant status. more

FLAVONOID CONTENT OF MORINDA CITRIFOLIA

Antioxidant Activity and Content Of Morinda Citrifolia Fruit Extracts 71
1. Introduction
Plants such as herbs have been used in folk medicine for centuries in most of the cultures throughout the world. Morinda citrifolia L. native to Polynesia is one of the traditional folk medicinal plants that have been used for over 2000 years by polynesians for treating diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, eye problems and many other illnesses [1].
Generation of free radicals or reactive oxygen species (ROS) during metabolism and other activities beyond the antioxidant capacity of a biological system gives rise to oxidative stress [2]. Oxidative stress plays a role in heart diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and in the aging process [3]. This concept is supported by increasing evidence that oxidative damage plays a role in the development of chronic, age-related degenerative diseases, and that dietary antioxidants oppose this and lower risk of disease [4]. Antioxidants are the substance that when present in low concentrations compared to those of an oxidisable substrate significantly delays or prevents oxidation of that substance [5].
Apart from their role of health benefactors, antioxidants are added in foods to prevent or delay oxidation of food, initiated by free radicals formed during their exposure to environmental factors such as air, light and temperature [6]. At present most of the antioxidants are manufactured synthetically. They belong to the class of synthetic antioxidants. The main disadvantage with the synthetic antioxidants is the side effects when taken in vivo [7]. Strict governmental rules regarding the safety of the food has necessitated the search for alternatives as food preservatives [8]. more