 | Science stacks up for flavonoids for heart health |
| 3/12/2007 |
| A diet rich in flavonoids, compounds in fruit, vegetables, coffee, tea and chocolate, could slash the risk associated to cardiovascular disease, says a joint Norwegian-US study.
The prospective cohort study of 34,489 postmenopausal women, published in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, reports that high dietary intake of several classes of flavonoids can reduced the risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD), coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke by between 10 and 22 per cent.
"This prospective study of postmenopausal women, with 16 years of follow-up, is, to our knowledge, the first study that has reported on total flavonoids and on seven subclasses of flavonoids," wrote lead author Pamela Mink from Washington-based Exponent Inc.
Flavonoids have been receiving interest with a mounting body of science, including epidemiological and laboratory-based, continuing to report the cancer-fighting potential of a number of different flavonoids, such as isoflavones, anthocyanidins and flavonols.
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