Prevent Disease with Flavonoids: Learn How You Can Prevent Disease From Various Sources Of Flavonoids

Prevent Disease with Flavonoids: Learn How You Can Prevent Disease From Various Sources Of Flavonoids
Page content

Flavonoids

Many people have heard the term flavonoids and are aware that they are extremely healthy. They, like phytonutrients, are responsible for much of the colors in the foods we eat. While the color is a nice addition, flavonoids offer a powerful way to ward off diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

Flavonoids act as a coating, somewhat like Teflon in a pan, for the platelets in your blood. This keeps the platelets from clumping together and forming clots thereby helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Flavonoids also appear to change the way the body reacts to compounds such as allergens, viruses and carcinogens. They have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, antiviral and anticancer properties. Flavonoid molecules are active free radical scavengers and they are active against a wide variety of oxidants and free radicals.

Sources Of Flavonoids

There are many sources of flavonoids but some of the things that have a large amount of these phytonutrients are cranberries, grapes, red wine, kale, citrus foods, onions, parsley, legumes, celery, apples, endives, black and green teas and broccoli. Do not remove the skins, for example, when eating apples or grapes, as most of the flavonoids are contained in the skin.

The good news is that if the above sources of flavonoids are not many of your favorites, flavonoids do have a saving grace. For all those chocolate lovers out there, you may already know that dark chocolate is a wonderful source of the flavonoids and although it is not wise to overdo it on the chocolate, eating a small amount of dark chocolate every single day is actually quite healthy for you.

If you are having problems with incorporating flavonoids into your diet, you can also reap the benefits of these amazing compounds by using supplements of grape seed, pine bark or co-enzyme Q10.

Please read this [disclaimer](https:// http//www.brighthub.com/content/healthdisclaimer.aspx) regarding the information contained within this article.