Flavonoids found in many foods

Flavonoids are a group of plant metabolites thought to provide health benefits through cell signaling pathways and antioxidant effects. These molecules are found in a variety of fruits and vegetables. The abundance of flavonoids coupled with their low toxicity relative to other plant compounds means they can be ingested in large quantities by animals, including humans. Examples of foods that are rich in flavonoids include onions, parsley, blueberries, bananas, dark chocolate and red wine.

http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-are-Flavonoids.aspx

Quercetin and epicatechin are examples of flavonoids, essential pigments found in many fruits and vegetables.

Quercetin is the aglycone form of flavonoid glycosides such as rutin and quercitrin which are found in buckwheat, citrus fruit and onions. Quercetin is thought to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and to protect against some forms of illness such as cancer. However, the clinical evidence to support this claim is not yet available, despite promising initial research findings. Quercetin is found in various types of fruits, vegetables, teas, wine and many other food items.

Catechins are important flavonoids abundant in the leaves of the tea plant.* Examples include epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epigallocatechin gallate. When oolong tea or black tea is prepared, the leaves are allowed to oxidize. This causes conversion of some or all of the catechins to larger molecules and reduces the flavonoid content. White tea is tea that has undergone even less processing than green tea and therefore provides the highest catechin content.

http://www.news-medical.net/health/Quercetin-and-Epicatechin.aspx

http://www.ihealthdirectory.com/flavonoids-rich-foods/

*All teas from the Camellia plant are rich in polyphenols, antioxidants that detoxify cell-damaging free radicals in the body. Tea has about eight to 10 times the polyphenols found in fruits and vegetables, and the longer you steep the tea, the more flavonoids you'll get in your brew. Some believe white tea can reduce cholesterol and blood pressure and acts as a blood thinner and contibutes to bone density, all because of the falconoids (there are thousands of falconoids, and it’s a great word for Scrabble).

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/health-benefits-tea
http://www.whiteteaguide.com/whiteteahealthbenefits.htm

DIY decaf white tea (because it can have a lot of caffeine): "Just brew a cup as normal, leaving the leaves in the hot water for about 30 seconds. Then drain the tea leaves and rebrew... The caffeine content is almost completely lost with the first brewing (in fact, just as much caffeine is equal to any commercial decaf!)." From a non-working website.

http://directorsblog.nih.gov/2014/11/04/could-flavanols-reverse-age-related-memory-decline/

Green tea extract and cognitive functions

Good news about tea

I’ve never been particularly fond of tea, but I do get a little hankering for something hot and liquid in the afternoon, and a tea bag passed through some hot water with a little orange juice really hits the spot.  Nice to know it’s good for you. The 8 glasses of water a day thing has pretty much been debunked, and since I get most of my water in decaf coffee, tea or food, I’m pleased they’ve found some value in tea (the coffee blessings came out a few years ago).  The big push for drinking more water was from the companies that sell bottled water.

In a survey of existing research published in the European">European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the authors report that not only does tea rehydrate and quench your thirst as well as water does, it comes with additional health benefits too.

“Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water,” Dr. Carrie Ruxton, a nutritionist and the lead author of the study told the BBC. “Water is essentially replacing fluid. Tea replaces fluids and contains antioxidants so it’s got two things going for it.”

http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/14/study-tea-is-healthier-than-water/#ixzz2tzHYdaXZ

http://www.foodgenetics.com/2010/06/17/drinking-tea-as-good-as-drinking-water/

http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d4280

3356 Are you a tea drinker?

Although I’m not particularly fond of tea, I do drink it first thing in the morning because I am awake about an hour before the coffee shops open.* I thought this study of the affects of milk on the vasodilation benefits of tea was interesting. I always add a bit of orange juice to kill the taste. I wonder what that does to tea? It seems to be something in the milk--rat cells being tested to find that out.

"In a study of 16 postmenopausal women, those who drank about two cups of black tea without milk had a greater than four-old increase in flow-mediated vasodilation from baseline in the forearm brachial artery (P<0.01), said Verena Stangl, M.D., of the Charité-Universitätsmediz in Berlin, and colleagues.

However, those who drank a mix of 90% black tea with 10% skimmed milk had no more of an increase in vasodilation than if they had consumed two cups of hot water, Dr. Stangl and colleagues reported online today in European Heart Journal." Reported at Medpagetoday.

*Although I'm a coffee drinker, I don't like the taste of my own brew (or yours either), so I've been going out for a cup since I was a teen-ager. While there, I draft my blogs.