Purple foods

Purple foods prevent premature aging and they are colored by a pigment called anthocyanin, a strong and protective antioxidant which can help reduce the risk of cancer, help improve memory and assist with healthy aging.

Purple foods protect your heart and they're packed with flavonoids — known to be one of the most powerful phytochemicals. Flavonoids are heart-healthy, beneficial to the cardiovascular system and can lower your risk of heart disease.

Purple and blue pigment-related flavonoid phytonutrients, referred to as anthocyanins such as those that yield color to blackberries, blueberries, plums, raisins, eggplant, purple cabbage and purple-fleshed potatoes have been shown to have health benefits.

Benefits from ingesting these blue and purplish pigmented foods that have been demonstrated include protection against liver injuries; significant reduction of blood pressure; improvement of eyesight; strong anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities; inhibition of mutations caused by mutagens from cooked food; and suppression of proliferation of human cancer cells. As with other phenolic compounds, anthocyanins are free radical scavengers-meaning they are antioxidants that protect against free radical damage. The consumption of anthocyanins may play a major role in preventing lifestyle-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1082903/

Quercetin

 (source) Quercetin belongs to a group of plant pigments called flavonoids that give many fruits, flowers, and vegetables their colors.

Flavonoids, such as quercetin, are antioxidants. They scavenge particles in the body known as free radicals which damage cell membranes, tamper with DNA, and even cause cell death. Antioxidants can neutralize free radicals. They may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage free radicals cause. In test tubes, quercetin has strong antioxidant properties. But researchers are not sure whether taking quercetin (and many other antioxidants) has the same effects inside the body.

Quercetin may help protect against heart disease and cancer. Quercetin can also help stabilize the cells that release histamine in the body and thereby have an anti-inflammatory and antihistamine effect.

Allergies, asthma, hay fever and hives

In test tubes, quercetin prevents immune cells from releasing histamines, which are chemicals that cause allergic reactions. As a result, researchers think that quercetin may help reduce symptoms of allergies, including runny nose, watery eyes, hives, and swelling of the face and lips. However, there is no evidence yet that it works in humans.

 

Heart disease

Test tube, animal, and some population-based studies suggest that the flavonoids quercetin, resveratrol, and catechins (all found in high concentrations in red wine) may help reduce the risk of atherosclerosis, plaque build up in arteries that can lead to heart attack or stroke. These nutrients appear to protect against the damage caused by LDL (bad) cholesterol and may help prevent death from heart disease. However, most human studies have looked at flavonoids in the diet, not as supplements. Animal studies have used extremely large amounts of flavonoids (more than you could get through a supplement). More studies in people are needed to see if flavonoid supplements can be effective.

High cholesterol

Test tube studies show that quercetin prevents damage from LDL cholesterol, and population studies show that people who eat diets high in flavonoids have lower cholesterol. One study found that people who took quercetin and an alcohol-free red wine extract (which contains quercetin) had less damage from LDL cholesterol. Another study found that quercetin reduced LDL concentrations in overweight subjects who were at high risk of heart disease. More studies are needed to show whether taking a quercetin supplement will have the same effect.

Hypertension

Studies show that quercetin supplementation reduces blood pressure in people who have hypertension.

Interstitial cystitis

Two small studies suggested that people with interstitial cystitis might benefit from consuming flavonoids. People with this condition have bladder pain similar to that from a bladder infection, and often experience an urgent need to urinate. In both studies, those who took a supplement containing quercetin appeared to have fewer symptoms. However, the studies included other flavonoids. So it is not known which flavonoid offers the most benefits. More and better designed studies are needed.

Prostatitis

Preliminary evidence indicates that quercetin might reduce symptoms of prostatitis, or inflammation of the prostate. One small study found that men who took quercetin experienced fewer symptoms than men who took placebo. More research is needed.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

There are reports of people with RA who had fewer symptoms when they switched from a typical Western diet to a vegan diet with lots of uncooked berries, fruits, vegetables, nuts, roots, seeds, and sprouts containing quercetin and other antioxidants. But there is no evidence that the positive effects were due directly to antioxidants, and no evidence that quercetin supplements help treat RA.

Cancer

Scientists have long considered quercetin, and other flavonoids contained in fruits and vegetables, important in cancer prevention. People who eat more fruits and vegetables tend to have lower risk of certain types of cancer. Animal and test tube studies suggest that flavonoids have anti-cancer properties. Quercetin and other flavonoids have been shown in these studies to inhibit the growth of cancer cells from breast, colon, prostate, ovarian, endometrial, and lung tumors. One study even suggests that quercetin is more effective than resveratrol in terms of inhibiting tumor growth. Another found that frequent intake of quercetin-rich foods was associated with lower lung cancer risk. The association was even stronger among subjects who smoked more than 20 cigarettes daily, and a third suggests that quercetin slows tumor growth in the laboratory (in leukemia cells). More research is needed.

 

 

Dietary Sources

Fruits and vegetables are the primary dietary sources of quercetin, particularly citrus fruits, apples, onions, parsley, sage, tea, and red wine. Olive oil, grapes, dark cherries, and dark berries such as blueberries, blackberries, and bilberries are also high in quercetin and other flavonoids.

Available Forms

Quercetin supplements are available as pills or capsules. They are often packaged with bromelain (an enzyme found in pineapple) because both are anti-inflammatories. Other flavonoid-rich extracts include those from grapeseed, bilberry, Ginkgo biloba, and green tea.

There are also water-soluble forms of quercetin available, such as hesperidin-methyl-chalcone (HMC) or quercetin-chalcone.

ORAC

Antioxidants help to quell the fire of free radicals our bodies generate and are exposed to every day. One way to measure the antioxidant potential of a food is by its ORAC value. ORAC is the acronym for “Oxygen Radical Absorption Capacity” and is a measure of the potential antioxidant capacity of a food. In theory, the higher the ORAC value, the higher the concentration of antioxidants present in a food. Organic raw cocoa has the highest ORAC value of any food.

The US Department of Agriculture/Journal of the American Chemical Society has released data on high ORAC value foods per 100 grams compared to unprocessed raw cacao (28,000):

• dark chocolate (13,210), 
• prunes (5,770), 
• blueberries (2,400), 
• kale (1,770) 
• and broccoli (890). 

 According to the USDA, the average American gets 1200 ORAC value/day in their diet. They go on further to say that Americans should strive to get between 3000-5000 ORAC value/day. One tablespoon of cocoa powder which is about 5g has an approximate ORAC value of 1400, which gives you almost half of what you need.

The phytonutrients that give raw cocoa powder its high antioxidant value are a group of compounds called polyphenols or more specifically flavonoids.  Cocoa has more flavonoids than any known food.  Two flavonoids in particular, catechin and epicatchin, are found in extremely high amounts in cocoa powder and have copious amounts of research supporting their health benefits.  These two flavonoids along with hundreds of other known phytochemicals in cocoa appear to prevent and even treat some of today’s most devastating diseases. Interestingly, this myriad of flavonoids in cocoa appears to be absorbed intact into the human blood stream (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Nov 2002) which allow them to exert their medicinal power on the body.

Many Americans are deficient in the minerals copper and magnesium, both of which are found in cocoa.  Cocoa contains about 0.8 mg of copper per 100 g and is therefore a great food source of copper.Copper has many uses in the body, including the oxygenation of red blood cells and aiding in cellular energy production.  Cocoa also has the highest amount of magnesium of any known food source,approximately 131 mg per 100 g of cocoa.  This mineral, which plays a significant role in cocoa’s health giving properties, is required by over 300 hundred enzymes in the body and is crucial for cardiovascular health, optimal blood pressure and protein synthesis.

cocoa consumption is associated with decreased blood pressure, improved blood vessel health, and improvement in cholesterol levels, among other benefits.

Other benefits of cacao:

• Habitual cocoa intake lowers blood pressure via its high arginine content and the nitric oxide pathway. Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke. 
• Other protective mechanisms cocoa can offer against cardiovascular disease come from its potent antioxidant profile. The flavonoids in cocoa raise HDL, the “good” cholesterol and both lower and protect LDL or “bad” cholesterol  from being oxidized (damaged by free radicals) in the blood, which helps fight against plaque formation 
• Cocoa acts as a natural blood thinner when taken daily. Cocoa reduces platelet aggregation or in other words thins the blood. Platelets are sticky little cell fragments that help our body repair injury, but can also contribute to plaque formation in the arteries. 
• One of the most deadly complications from diabetes mellitus (type II diabetes) is heart disease. Cocoa protects us from these complications and also helps to promote insulin sensitivity.
• Colon and reproductive cancers like breast and prostate cancer are among the most common types of cancers. Components of cocoa, notably the polyphenols have shown to stop proliferation of breast, prostate and colon cancer cells while sparing normal cells.
• Research is also showing cocoa powder to help immune function, cognition, and detoxification.  Cocoa can both upregulate specific immune cells and help modulate immune function. It appears to increase brain oxygenation which has beneficial implications for diseases like dementia. And finally, raw organic cocoa powder with its high fiber content has been shown to facilitate the excretion and detoxification of environmental contaminants from the body.

Citrus Fruit Flavonoid Controls Weight, Causes Fat Loss

Flavonoids are compounds found in fruits, vegetables, and certain beverages (including tea, coffee, fruit juices and wine) that have aroused scientific interest in recent years because they seem to benefit the human body in a host of ways -- from fighting viruses to preventing inflammation and infections. Research has found certain flavonoids have anti-tumor and anti-stroke properties, too. Now weight control can be added to the list of remarkable ways flavonoids can help promote good health naturally. A new study just published in the journal Diabetes concludes a citrus fruit flavonoid can cause the liver to burn fat and control weight.

A team of scientists headed by Murray Huff of the Robarts Research Institute at the University of Western Ontario, investigated a citrus fruit flavonoid called naringenin. They fed one group of mice a typical Western style high-fat diet in order to induce the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome, a frequent precursor to diabetes, is defined by a cluster of physical signs such as abdominal fat, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels and insulin resistance. Then another matched group of mice ate the same diet with the addition of naringenin.

The results? Naringenin brought down the high triglyceride and cholesterol levels to normal and prevented the development of insulin resistance. In fact, the flavonoid totally normalized glucose metabolism. "These studies show naringenin, through its insulin-like properties, corrects many of the metabolic disturbances linked to insulin resistance and represents a promising therapeutic approach for metabolic syndrome," Huff said in a statement to the media.

But the natural, grapefruit-derived compound was found to do even more. It brought the fat mice down to a healthy, slim weight by genetically reprogramming their livers to burn up excess fat. The result was a lack of stored fat. The mice were cured of obesity.