"flavonoids" news and stories

Scientists have given you another reason to ramp up your berry consumption.

Strawberries, blueberries and berries of pretty much any stripe have long been credited with a host of health benefits, from reducing the risk for certain types of cancer to sharpening our vision. Now, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that eating more berries can also lower your chances of developing Parkinson's disease.

The recent study tracked nearly fifty thousand men and eighty thousand women for more than 20 years, and examined participants' intake of flavonoids, which are found in higher concentrations in berries, as well as in tea, red wine and citrus fruits. The results opened a new door to preventing Parkinson's.

Get the whole story at AOL Health.

I always knew that orange juice was healthy because it has vitamin C and potassium, but I just found out that it gets better than that. I read an article that says that OJ also has large amounts of flavonoids, which help fight several diseases and health problems like diabetes and heart disease. The research by the University of Buffalo looked at flavonoids present in orange juice and how they suppress oxygen free radicals.

The people in the study who drank OJ had significant benefits compared to those that didn't. In the past the sugar in orange juice was thought to be unhealthy for diabetics and those who are overweight, but the health benefits over weighed the concerns over sugar levels dramatically. So now there are even more reasons to drink orange juice. I'm getting thirsty just thinking about a tall glass of fresh squeezed juice right now.

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Sometimes I wonder what "better" means when it comes to food and dieting and health.

For example, this article. It says that a ten year study by researchers at the University of California have discovered that organic tomatoes have twice the amount of flavonoids (a kind of antioxidant) than regular tomatoes. They found that the organic variety had 79% more quercetin and 97% more kaempferol. It could be due to the lack of fertilzer.

But even Britain's Food Standards Agency says that while some organic foods have more or different nutrients doesn't mean they are necessarily better. Though, hey, tomatoes are great for you in general.

In today's Washington Post, a column by Robert L. Wolke, author of What Einstein Told His Cook, aims to debunk claims that microwave cooking saps vegetables of many of their nutrients. According to Wolke, much of the clamor stems from media interpretations of a Spanish study on how different cooking methods affect nutrients in vegetables. The culprit, he says, was not microwaving, but cooking vegetables in water. Much of the focus was on the reported loss of flavonoids, which are water soluble. Since the broccoli was microwaved in water and then compared to broccoli that had been steamed above boiling water, the loss of flavonoids was obviously greater. Wolke contends that microwaving veggies with no water is one of the best ways to cook them and still retain their nutrients.

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