Citrus BioFlavonoids Are A Powerful Defense Against Oxidative Stress

September 22nd, 2011

Natural News

By: Dr. David Jockers

Citrus fruits contain a vast array of phytonutrients that are just now being respected for the extraordinary health values they hold. Fruits and vegetables have been renowned for years for providing essential nutrients such as vitamin C. Today, nutritional scientists have discovered a group of bioactive flavonoids that enhance the effects of vitamin C and provide a powerful defense against oxidative stress.

Bioactive flavonoids, vitamin P, are found in living fruits and vegetables. The various bioflavonoids found in citrus include hesperidin, quercetin, diosmin, naringin, & rutin among others. These phytonutrients are vital for proper absorption of Vitamin C. In fact, studies have proven their ability to enhance and prolong the action of vitamin C.

Many vitamin C supplements consist of synthetically derived ascorbic acid. This is virtually ineffective. Without the natural citrus bioflavonoids ascorbic acid is easily oxidized and can actually be harmful to the body. This is why whole food nutrition is so much better than synthetically derived supplements.

Studies have shown benefits of the citrus bioflavonoids on capillary permeability and blood flow. This is due to the powerful anti-inflammatory effects of these phytonutrients. This is especially important for oxygenating tissues and maintaining normal blood pressure. It also reduces swelling, venous backup, and edema. This process also improves respiration in the lungs.

Hesperidin is found most abundantly in the peel and membranous parts of lemons and oranges. Hesperidin is often used for the treatment of varicose veins and hemorrhoids. A deficiency of hesperidin in the diet has been linked with abnormal capillary function, extremity pain & leg cramps.

Rutin and quercetin are the strongest bioflavonoid anti-oxidants. These 2 phytonutrients have very powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. They along with the other bioactive flavonoids have their greatest effects within the blood stream and capillary beds. These have also been shown to be highly effective at preventing and treating varicose veins. These are found in large quantities in the fruits and rinds of lemons, limes, grapefruits, & oranges.

A 1955 study by Dr. Biskind looked at 69 cases of acute respiratory infections that were treated with a whole water soluble citrus bioflavonoid complex. The disorders included the common cold, acute follicular tonsillitis, & influenza. Within 8 to 48 hours all but 3 cases saw a significant decline in infection. Dr. Biskind credited this rapid recovery to improved capillary permeability and the enhanced vitamin C bioavailability.

In 1962, Dr. Robert Cragin used lemon-orange derived bioflavonoids on different groups of athletes in a double blind study. It was found that the athletes taking bioflavonoids experienced less muscle and joint injuries than the control group. These athletes also recovered quicker from similar injuries than the group of athletes not taking the bioflavonoids. The addition of vitamin C to the bioflavonoids (as seen in citrus fruits) appeared to enhance these effects.

The best sources of citrus bioflavonoids are in lemons, limes, grapefruits, oranges, & tangerines. They are in their most potent form when they are picked off the tree in their full ripeness. The longer they are off of the tree the more nutrient value they lose. Once peeled, citrus fruit begin to oxidize and within days can lose a significant portion of their anti-oxidant value.

Enhance Your Citrus BioFlavonoid Consumption:

Do not throw away squeezed lemon… eat the pulp and membrane first.
If the peel is organic, you can shred it into a lemon zest and apply it to meat, salads, etc.
Avoid orange & grapefruit juices due to the high sugar and instead eat the whole fruit which contains fibers and significantly more bioflavonoids.

Click here for the full report from Natural News

Dems Add Teacher Money To War Funding Bill

June 30, 2010

Yahoo News

By Andrew Taylor

WASHINGTON – House Democrats, who are trying to pass a long-stalled war funding bill this week, have attached $10 billion to help local school districts avoid teacher layoffs when schools reopen.

The approximately $70 billion measure is anchored by President Barack Obama’s $30 billion request for the troop surge in Afghanistan and contains money for disaster aid accounts, foreign aid and disability benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

The bill’s release late Tuesday night was the surest signal yet that House leaders are committed to passing it this week, despite great resistance among many Democratic lawmakers and deepening anxiety over the Afghanistan war effort among Obama allies such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The Senate passed an almost $60 billion version of the bill last month. Successful action by the House would send the measure into negotiations aimed at producing a final measure next month for Obama’s signature.

The difficulty in passing the bill in the House is magnified by disagreement between Republicans supportive of the war — who insist the measure be “clean” of unrelated spending — and Democrats who want funding for the unpopular war to carry unrelated party priorities. Republicans are threatening to withhold support for the overall package if Democratic add-ons are included.

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Biggest Study on Cellphone Health Effects Launched

April 23, 2010

Reuters.com

by Kate Holton and Georgina Prodhan

The Cohort Study on Mobile Communications (COSMOS) differs from previous attempts to examine links between cellphone use and diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders in that it will follow users’ behavior in real time.

Most other large-scale studies have centered around asking people already suffering from cancer or other diseases about their previous mobile-phone use. They have also been shorter, since cellphones have only been widely used for about a decade.

“One of the limitations of research to date is that when you ask people about their mobile phone use say five years ago there’s a lot of error,” said Jack Rowley, director of research and sustainability at industry body the GSM Association.

About 5 billion mobile phones are in use worldwide. To date, groups such as the World Health Organization, the American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health have found no evidence that cellphone use harms health.

“Research to date has necessarily mainly focused on use in the short term, less than 10 years,” principal investigator Professor Paul Elliott of the School of Public Health at London’s Imperial College told a news conference.

“The COSMOS study will be looking at long-term use, 10, 20 or 30 years. And with long-term monitoring there will be time for diseases to develop,” he said.

The COSMOS study forms part of the Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Program (MTHR), a UK body funded by a variety of government and industry sources and run by independent experts, mostly university academics.

Professor Lawrie Challis from MTHR said: “Many cancers take 10, 15 years for the symptoms to appear. So we’ve got to address the question: Could there be something out there that we need to look at?”

TRILLION-DOLLAR INDUSTRY

The GSMA’s Rowley estimated that more than $100 million had been spent so far around the world on research into health risks from mobile phone usage.

Global spending on wireless equipment and services provided by companies such as Nokia, Ericsson and Huawei surpassed $1 trillion for the first time in 2009, according to technology research firm iSuppli.

The COSMOS study is recruiting participants aged 18-69 in Britain, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark through mobile carriers. It will use data from volunteers’ phone bills and health records as well as questionnaires.

Rowley, while welcoming the planned study, said organizers might have trouble finding enough volunteers, citing a previous attempt to carry out a similar study on a smaller scale in Germany in 2004, which foundered on privacy concerns.

In Britain, COSMOS is inviting 2.4 million mobile phone users to take part, through the country’s four top carriers: Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile and Orange. It hopes 90,000-100,000 will agree.

By late Thursday afternoon, 232 had signed up.

The study will examine all health developments and look for links to neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s as well as cancer.

It will also take account of how users carry their phone — for example in a trouser or chest pocket or in a bag — and whether they use hand-free kits.

A spokesman for Britain’s Health Protection Agency, an independent public body, said the study had the potential to give very reliable results.

“The Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at Imperial College is one of the best research centers in the world for this type of study,” he said.

COSMOS will announce its findings as it progresses.

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