Say yes to as many different vegetables, herbs and fruits as possible. This will give athletes a larger benefit to their trainings. Flavonoids is a type of phytonutrients, also called plant chemicals, and are widely distributed in seeds, leaves, bark, and flowers of plants. Did you know that these nutrients are crucial to high athletic performance? If there is something you should start counting, then its how many different vegetables & fruits you have in you diet – because the more these plant chemicals the better an athlete you could become.
Flavonoids and carotenoids are responsible for the amazing colours in fruits and vegetables. Flavonoids are the largest group of phytonutrients, with more than 6,000 different types. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants with anti-inflammatory and immune system benefits. More and more doctors and scientists are starting to agree on why various flavonoids can explain some of the health benefits associated with diets rich in fruits and vegetables. Diets rich in flavonoid-containing foods are associated with cancer and cardiovascular disease prevention.
These findings on flavonoids are not new. It has been known that vegetables, herbs, fruit and roots with high plant chemical levels could help skin protection, brain function, blood sugar and blood pressure regulation, in addition to antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Especially herbal medicine from asian countries has used this in their production of medicine.
Athletes would benefit from a lot of flavonoids in their diet because they may increase blood flow to the brain, improving cognitive function. Which may help in stressful situations in sports. Flavonoids also have high anti-inflammatory powers, which means that it will help immune system fight away and recover faster from inflammation. Athletes have a lot of inflammation from exercising, injuries – and from bad food choices.
A recent study shows a convincing report flavonoids from citrus fruit can improve exercise performance. The results showed a significant increase in power output during the exercise test.
Research has shown how flavonoids have protective effects against the oxidative stress associated with physical activity and sports. Oxidative stress is an imbalance between free radical activity and antioxidant activity. Imbalance can lead to inflammation.
Eating more flavonoids and doing races increased the physical movement time to fatigue, which means they could ride longer before getting tired. Findings also saw an association between flavonoids and increase in VO2max. VO2max is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen your body can utilise during exercise.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29535575/