Ask The Nutritionist
Q: Is it true the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables has been increased to 8-10 servings per day? What exactly are Flavonoids?
The answer to your first question is YES – the recommended number of servings of fruits and vegetables has been increased from 5-6 servings to 8-10 servings per day. This allows people to aim for that many servings and increase their need for nutrient dense foods.
Flavonoids are compounds called polyphenols- common flavonoids include QUERCETIN which is found in apples and onions, CATECHINS found in tea and wine and ANTHOCYANIDINS found in blueberries and cranberries. Studies show that eating lots of flavonoid-rich foods help to reduce the risk of developing heart disease, stroke and cancer.
When flavonoids are measured outside the body, they appear to have three to five times more antioxidant activity than Vitamin C and E but that is not what happens in the body. The body seems to treat flavonoid as unwelcome guests and produces compounds to get rid of them and it is this process of metabolizing flavonoids that is beneficial to the body. As the body gets rid of flavonoids, it kick-starts enzymes that eliminate carcinogens and mutations – hence the value of fruits and vegetables in cancer prevention plus flavonoids in the blood stream help to lower blood pressure and prevent inflammation in the blood vessels. (Ref: Oregon State University, June 2007)
So keep eating those fruits and vegetables, preferably organic!
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