Bioflavinoids, C and Rose Hips

[Guest guest]

http://www.doctoryourself.com/bioflavinoids.html

 

Bioflavinoids

C and Rose Hips

 

 

SO EXACTLY WHAT IS A ROSE HIP, ANYWAY?

Any biologist knows that roses don't have hips because

they are not vertebrates. Ha! Okay, back on task:

 

Rose hips are the fruit of a rose bush. All flowers

give rise to fruits, and the rose is no exception.

When I hike (just got back from another one), I look

for wild or feral rosebushes and munch out on the

" hips " as soon as they are ready (usually early

autumn). They are often found on the bushes throughout

the entire winter, just waiting for you to come along.

Eaten fresh or dried, they are high in vitamin C.

 

Rose hips are a rich source of bioflavinoids.

Bioflavinoids improve uptake and utilization of

vitamin C. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi won the Nobel prize

for his research with vitamin C and related factors

back in the 30's. He actually proposed the term

" Vitamin P " for the ( " protective " ?) phytochemicals in

bioflavinoids. In a rather adorable, unplanned bit of

research, Szent-Gyorgyi was feeding pure vitamin C to

his lab animals. One evening, some of them snuck out

of their cage and ate his dinner when he wasn't

looking: the meal consisted of stuffed green peppers.

Szent-Gyorgyi observed that the animals that ate the

peppers seemed to require considerably less pure

ascorbic acid than did the less lucky critters.

Peppers, along with many fruits and vegetables, are

high in bioflavinoids.

 

Many folks would do well to note this next section:

there is so very little rose hips powder in most

" rose-hips C " tablets that it is a waste of money to

pay extra for what amounts to nearly zilch. I (in

agreement with Linus Pauling) recommend that people

buy the cheapest vitamin C they can find, and take a

lot of it. This means moderate amounts very

frequently. The only reason to pay more for " C " is if

you have a sensitive tummy and need a buffered form,

and rose hips have essentially nothing to do with

that.

 

I recommend that people take cheap C, AND eat right.

Foods are a lousy source of vitamin C but an excellent

source of bioflavinoids. Vitamin C tablets are a

lousy source of bioflavinoids, but a good source of C.

Good match.

 

And by the way, a green or red pepper IS a fruit. So

are pumpkins, green beans and squash. They all come

from flowers. A rose by any other name?

 

References:

Hughes R.E. and Jones P.R. (1971) Natural and

synthetic sources of vitamin C. J. Sci. Food. Agric.

22 551 552.

 

Jones E. and Hughes R.E. (1984) The influence of

bioflavonoids on the absorption of vitamin C. IRCS

Med. Sci. 12 320

 

Vinson J A, Bose P. (1983) Comparative bioavailability

of synthetic and natural vitamin C in Guinea pigs.

Nutr Rep Intl 27(4):875.

 

Vinson J A, Bose P. (1988) Comparative bioavailability

to humans of ascorbic acid alone or in a citrus

extract. Am J Clin Nutr 48:6014.

 

 

Copyright 2001 and prior years by Andrew Saul, Number

8 Van Buren Street, Holley, New York 14470 USA

Telephone (585) 638-5357