How it Functions
How it Functions
What is are the functions of flavonoids?
Protection of cell structures
Most flavonoids function in the human body as antioxidants. In this capacity, they help neutralize overly reactive oxygen-containing molecules and prevent these overly reactive molecules from damaging parts of cells. Particularly in oriental medicine, plant flavonoids have been used for centuries in conjunction with their antioxidant, protective properties. Scultellaria root, cornus fruit, licorice, and green tea are examples of flavonoid-containing foods widely used in oriental medicine. While flavonoids may exert their cell structure protection through a variety of mechanisms, one of their potent effects may be through their ability to increase levels of glutathione, a powerful antioxidant, as suggested by various research studies.
Vitamin C support
The relationship between flavonoids and vitamin C was actually discovered by mistake. Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, the Nobel Prize winning researcher who discovered flavonoids, was attempting to make a preparation of vitamin C for one of his patients with blood vessel problems. The preparation he gave the patient was not 100% pure--it contained other substances along with the vitamin C. It worked amazingly well.
Later, when Dr. Szent-Gyorgyi purchased a pure solution of vitamin C, he found it was not nearly so effective with his patient. He suspected flavonoids as the magic addition to vitamin C in his first impure preparation. Present-day research has clearly documented the synergistic (mutually beneficial) relationship between flavonoids and vitamin C. Each substance improves the antioxidant activity of the other, and many of the vitamin-related functions of vitamin C also appear to require the presence of flavonoids.
Inflammation control
Inflammation--the body's natural response to danger or damage--must always be carefully regulated to prevent overactivation of the immune system and unwanted immune response. Many types of cells involved with the immune system--including T cells, B cells, NK cells, mast cells, and neutrophils--have been shown to alter their behavior in the presence of flavonoids. Prevention of excessive inflammation appear to be a key role played by many different chemical categories of flavonoids.
Antibiotic activity
In some cases, flavonoids can act directly as antibiotics by disrupting the function of microorganisms like viruses or bacteria. The antiviral function of flavonoids has been demonstrated with the HIV virus, and also with HSV-1, a herpes simplex virus