Bioflavonoids

What the heck is a bioflavonoid? These little nutrients were first observed in 1936 by a group of scientists who were studying scurvy. As you may remember, scurvy is a disorder caused by lack of vitamin C. Many sailors developed scurvy due to inadequate supplies of citrus fruits on board ships. This was especially true during long trips from Europe to America.

During these studies of scurvy in the 1930s the scientist made preparations of pure vitamin C and preparations of impure vitamin C, which was derived from more natural sources. They noted that animals who were given the impure vitamin preparation actually lived longer. It was discovered that these animals had less capillary damage or the capillaries had healed much better in those animals than the ones given the pure vitamin C.

The scientists then began studying what had boosted the effects of the vitamin C and discovered bioflavonoids.

Bioflavonoids are actually a group of compounds that are noted for their ability to strengthen capillaries and even stop capillary bleeding in many cases.

Capillary weakening or dysfunction is prevalent in many diseases including high blood pressure and diabetes. Having strong, flexible capillaries is important because these are the part of the circulatory sysem that actually feeds the tissues and organs while also removing the waste and toxins from the tissues.

Bioflavonoids are essential to diabetics because of their ability to relieve retina inflammation which is the most common cause of vision problems and blindness in diabetics. Inflammation of the retina leads to bleeding of the capillaries. Bioflavonoids strengthen the capillaries and often stops the bleeding completely.

Several of the bioflavonoid compounds have also been found to prevent the onset of cataracts in diabetic patients by inhibiting the action of the enzyme, aldose reductase.

Bioflavonoids and Bleeding Disorders
Since bioflavonoids are a key component to capillary health it makes sense that scientists would study their affect on other bleeding disorders.

A report in Family Practice News indicates that French doctors treated women suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding with very good results.

Studies have also been conducted and reported in Chicago Medicine and Arzneimittel-Forschung/Drug Research that show pregnant women who took bioflavonoids had less cases of varicose veins and many women of menopause age had less hot flashes and their menstrual cycles were not as erratic as those who did not take the supplements.

Food sources: citrus fruits, strawberries, broccoli, red bell peppers, garlic, spinach, and green tea.