Polyphenol – The Elixir of Eternal Youth

The polyphenol anti-aging benefits have been receiving significant attention after exposition by research that polyphenol is one of the most active ingredients responsible for most of the health benefits of vegetables and fruits. The US consumes about 20 mg to 1 gram of polyphenol everyday. Polyphenols are known to be more effective than vitamins in some areas and some polyphenol varieties, such as polyphenols in green tea and polyphenols in red wine have attracted lot of attention as potential longevity enhancers.

What are Polyphenols?

Polyphenols are natural compounds widely found in plant foods. The most important dietary sources of polyphenols are onions (flavonols); cocoa (proanthocyanidins); tea, apples, and red wine (flavonols and catechins); citrus fruit (flavanones); berries and cherries (anthocyanidins); and soy (isoflavones).

The most important ingredients of polyphenols in our diet are phenolic acid and flavonoids, the former constituting nearly one-third and the later two-thirds. Flavonoids are further subdivided into various categories, such as anthocyanins, catechins, flavones, isoflavones, falvonols, quercetin, kaempferol, resveratrol, proanthocyanidins, and myrecetin.

Anti-aging and Other Benefits of Polyphenols

Polyphenol anti-aging benefits have been extensively studied and it has been revealed that polyphenols are excellent antioxidants, even powerful than vitamins, which make them very effective agents in reducing cellular decay that typically happens with aging.

Moreover, polyphenols are also known to posses excellent anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and anti-infection properties. They improve the immune response and reduce cancer-causing activities in the body. Polyphenols are also known to improve blood circulation and reduce the risk of heart diseases.

These are some of the very common problems that the elderly persons face. Their immune response decreases with aging, they become prone to infections and diseases, their cells begin to decay with age and increased anti-oxidant activity, the repair capacity of the cells begin to decline, and sometimes abnormal growth in cells triggered by changes in cellular configuration increase the risk of cancer. Heart problems, circulatory disorders, weakness of vision and macular degeneration are also common.

Since polyphenols address all these areas and can help to reduce the impact of these problems, people swear by polyphenol anti-aging benefits and recommend their increased intake through diets.

Menopausal women can also benefit a lot from polyphenols, as the isoflavones (a sub-class of flavonoids) found in soy can considerably lower hot flashes and improve bone health and hormonal activity.

Dietary Sources of Polyphenols

The dietary sources of deriving polyphenol anti-aging benefits, including phenolic acid and flavonoids and its sub-classes are:

Grapes, grape seeds, cocoa, coffee, dark chocolate, apple including unripe apples, blueberries, bilberries, onions, red wine, broccoli, tea, green tea, white tea, ginkgo biloba herb, soy, nuts, whole grain cereals, grape seed extract, pine bark, cacao, cranberries etc.

Aging is a natural process and hardly anything can be done to stop aging. What is important is not how aged you are, but how aged you look. The look and feel of a person has a lot to do with the general state of health. Aging has a natural propensity to increase the risk of diseases. It’s exactly where polyphenols can come of excellent use. The polyphenol anti-aging benefits can help to retard age-related decay at the cellular level, improve immune response, control inflammations, reduce the risk of heart problems and improve clarity and focus of vision. Obviously, for those who are passionate about long and healthy life, polyphenols are a preferred choice.