I've been told that the reason I'm always so busy at work is because I tell everyone to eat chocolate - a prescription that is fairly easy to follow for most. And indeed I do recommend chocolate in moderation for most of my patients, but not just any old chocolate - it has to be the good quality, dark, high cocoa, low sugar variety to make the grade and the more bitter the better.

You may have heard that the antioxidants found in chocolate and cocoa are good for you. Well, these antioxidants are known as flavonoids which are responsible for the bitter taste of dark chocolate.

Flavonoids are naturally occurring plant compounds with the different types numbering in the thousands. At times, you may come across various terms being used to describe different classes of flavonoids, such as bioflavonoids, polyphenols, anthocyanins, flavonols, flavones, flavanones and flavanols. Under these classes, there are thousands of different flavonoids, produced in plants as a protective measure in response to harsh conditions such as drought, insects, fungal infection and photo-oxidation.

All flavonoids are antioxidants of varying potency and therapeutic activity and they have a diverse array of biological effects which can reduce the disease and degeneration associated with ageing. such conditions as inflammation, cancer, vascular diseases, memory loss, neurological damage, hypertension, kidney dysfunction, impotence, blindness and diabetes. A flavonoid-rich diet can even reduce your risk of sunburn!

Other flavonoid-rich foods in the spotlight recently are berries and red wine. It would seem that whoever distributed flavonoids amongst the foods had a pretty delicious meal in mind at the time.

Berries are one of the richest sources of antioxidants that we can eat. The flavonoid-rich purple and red pigments of berries are some of the most potent antioxidants around and have even shown promise in the ability to inhibit cancer cell growth - oral, prostate, colon and breast.

Red wine has been touted as a tonic for the circulatory system and it would seem that there are a lot of people keen to take on this advice. Now, researchers at Queen Mary's School of Medicine think that they know why red wine might be so good. The flavonoid resveratrol has been suspected as being the reason for red wine's therapeutic potential, with recent research indicating high doses have the potential for significant life extension. But due to low levels of resveratrol in wine and poor absorption rates, it seems you would have to drink dozens of bottles a day to glean the resveratrol dose needed to get the same longevity benefits that have shown up in research with supplements. Luckily for wine lovers, researchers have discovered that the most potent component in red wine was indeed another flavonoid group called procyanidins. Procyanidins just so happen to be also found in abundance in my favourite food - dark chocolate, in my favourite drink green tea and also in grape seeds and skins.

That green tea is a flavonoid-rich drink should come as no surprise. Barely a week passes by without another article or TV item about the discovery of yet another benefit of green tea. It seems it can do everything except wash my car and program my DVD, but that's why I had kids isn't it! Green tea will (and the evidence is overwhelming) boost your immunity, lower your cholesterol, drop your blood pressure and reduce your blood sugar. It can also reduce your risk of cancer, slow down any that you already have and may even induce some types to regress. It can help minimise hair loss, kidney stones, blindness, arthritis and osteoporosis. It will even reduce your chance of getting sunburnt. Green tea is flavonoid-rich.

Some of my other favourite foods that are laden with the health boosting flavonoids include cherries, prunes, broccoli, apples, onions, tempeh, dark-coloured beans, leafy greens and parsley.

It is no coincidence that some of the most flavonoid-rich herbs also happen to be some of the most widely used therapeutic herbal remedies in the world. These include Milk Thistle, Ginkgo Biloba, Pine bark and Grape seed extracts. The general free radical-mopping, circulation- supporting and inflammation-reducing effects of flavonoids have played a huge role in their popularity.

Recently, Iranian researchers expanded upon the list of many benefits from the flavonoid-rich herb Milk Thistle, a traditional liver tonic, when they found it also helped lower blood sugar and triglycerides in diabetics.

When I did studies many years ago there was little focus on flavonoids, with bioflavonoids such as hesperidin and rutin being added to vitamin C supplements to potentiate the absorption and circulatory benefits of the vitamin C. Discovered by Dr Szent-Gyorgyi, who won a Nobel prize for discovering vitamin C in 1937, bioflavonoids were typically citrus-sourced and often used to assist people suffering from circulatory problems.

And while the bioflavonoid group have much to offer our health, they make up just a small number of the diversely distributed and therapeutic flavonoids. Flavonoids are everywhere and they are offering up a multitude of benefits to the discerning eater. Enjoy the synergistic effects of flavonoids by eating a wide variety of these super foods.

Good Health, Jeremy Hill.

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