Flavonoids represent two-fisted assault on diabetes, nervous system disorders: study

[Celebration]

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-flavonoids-two-fisted-assault-diabetes-nervous.html

A recent study from scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies suggests that a strawberry a day (or more accurately, 37 of them) could keep not just one doctor away, but an entire fleet of them, including the neurologist, the endocrinologist, and maybe even the oncologist.

Investigations conducted in the Salk Institute's Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory (CNL) will appear in the June 27, 2011, issue of PLoS ONE. The report explains that fisetin, a naturally-occurring flavonoid found most abundantly in strawberries and to a lesser extent in other fruits and vegetables, lessens complications of diabetes. Previously, the lab showed that fisetin promoted survival of neurons grown in culture and enhanced memory in healthy mice. That fisetin can target multiple organs strongly suggests that a single drug could be used to mitigate numerous medical complications.

"This manuscript describes for the first time a drug that prevents both kidney and brain complications in a type 1 diabetes mouse model," says David Schubert, Ph.D., professor and head of the Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory and one of the manuscript's co-authors. "Moreover, it demonstrates the probable molecular basis of how the therapeutic is working."

Pam Maher, Ph.D., a senior staff scientist in the CNL, is the study's corresponding author. Maher initially identified fisetin as a neuroprotective flavonoid ten years ago. "In plants, flavonoids act as sunscreens and protect leaves and fruit from insects," she explains. "As foods they are implicated in the protective effect of the 'Mediterranean Diet.'"

[sudopod]

1. Why does everything always have to be a "war" or an "assault"?

NEW CANCER TREATMENT PUNCHES LYMPHOMA IN THE DICK

[TlalocW]

4. New dietary guidelines rips diabete's heart out of its chest so it can meet Kali in Hell

YEAH!

TlalocW

[provis99]

5. even religion is in on the act:

[valerief]

2. As I understand it, strawberries are heavily laden with insecticides.

But I want to look up what other plants contain fisetin. Thanks.

on edit:
http://www.nootropics.com/fisetin/index.html
Besides strawberries, fisetin is found in tomatoes, onions, oranges, apples, peaches, grapes, kiwifruit and persimmons.

[murphyj87]

3. That idea

That idea, and similar ones, about flavonoids has been around since the 1980s, if not earlier.

Studies up to now have suggested that flavonoid changes to DNA may be as likely to be detrimental as they are to be beneficial. Flavonoids have been considered to increase the incidence of childhood leukemia.