Vitamin C with a boost
• Fights oxidants
• Recharges vitamin C
• Prevents inflammation
• Maintains healthy cell division

The hero and the sidekicks
Vitamin C is a fundamental antioxidant that quenches the action of toxic free radicals that are produced by the body's cellular metabolism. While the benefits of vitamin C are common knowledge, what is less well known is its partnership with flavonoids.

Charger included
On their own, flavonoids fight inflammation and cancer, reduce the permeability of blood vessels, and are antioxidants. They also protect and enhance vitamin C's activity, "recharging" it into its active form and allowing it to continue its free radical quenching. Vitamin C deficiency is famous for causing scurvy, but in fact scurvy is caused by a combined deficiency of both vitamin C and flavonoids. They work together.

A natural boost
Flavonoids are natural plant pigments that are not produced by the body. The synergistic action of C+ Bioflavonoids gives vitamin C benefits with an extra punch.

Flavonoids, also called bioflavonoids, are natural plant pigments. They are a group of polyphenolic antioxidant substances that are present in most plants, concentrating in seeds, bark, flowers, and fruit skin or peel. The human body cannot produce these phytochemicals, so we must get them through diet or supplementation. The chemical structure is comprised of two benzene rings on either side of a three-carbon ring. Flavonoids comprise a large and varied group, distinguished from one another by the addition of hydroxyl groups, sugars, methyl groups etc. The terminology used to clarify the various classes of flavonoids includes: flavanols, flavanes, flavan-3-ols, OPCs, proanthocyanins, isoflavonoids, etc. Flavonoids have a range of biological activities, acting as antioxidants and showing anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, and antineoplastic actions. As well, flavonoids have a synergistic effect on Vitamin C activity.

History
Szent-Gyorgyi, the discoverer of Vitamin C, also discovered flavonoids accidentally in the late 30s. A friend given a crude vitamin C extracted from lemon found relief, but later his gums started bleeding. Szent-Gyorgyi gave a purer form of vitamin C thinking he would see better results. Instead, his friend's gums worsened! Yet upon administration of an isolated flavonoid extract, his friend's gums healed completely. Eventually, Szent-Gyorgy demonstrated that scurvy symptoms were due to a combined deficiency of Vitamin C and flavonoids.

Flavonoids were originally termed "Vitamin P" because they reduced the permeability of blood vessels. But flavonoids are so chemically diverse that they cannot be categorized as a single nutrient. The following are some herbs whose active ingredients are classified as flavonoids:

Bilberry - anthocyanins; Strawberries - ellagic acids; Ginkgo - ginkgoflavone glycosides; Turmeric - curcuminoids; Green tea - catechins; Hawthorn berry - proanthocyanidins; Onions - Quercetin; Grape seeds / skin - OPCs (oligomeric proanthocyanidins).

An interesting observation was made by some Indian researchers from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences: the vitamin C in the extract of the fruit amla, which has the highest concentration of ascorbate in any plant, had over ten times the bioavailabilty of synthetic Vitamin C. Careful analysis revealed that the tannins present in the amla fruit protected and enhanced the vitamin C activity. Other studies have found that the cancer cell growth inhibitory actions of the flavonoid quercetin were considerably enhanced by vitamin C. The effect on the vitamin may be due to its ability to recycle oxidized vitamin C: when antioxidants neutralize free radicals, they become themselves weak prooxidants. Flavonoids display an "antioxidant boosting" effect, returning ascorbate to its active antioxidant form.