The Power of Polyphenols

What do green tea, blueberries, chocolate and pomegranates have in common? Along with many foods touted to keep you well, they are rich in polyphenols. Phenols are molecules made of 6 carbon atoms stuck together in a hexagon, and polyphenols are bigger molecules of phenols stuck together. One of the biggest yet least discussed themes in modern health science is the power of polyphenols to keep us well. They are not nutrition in the traditional sense. They aren’t like protein or iron or vitamin C, that have a key role to play and will make you sick if you don’t get enough. Polyphenols regulate your metabolism like drugs do. They lower your blood pressure, damp down inflammation, and switch the right genes on (and the wrong ones off). Resveratrol in grapes is a potent polyphenol, as is curcumin in turmeric, cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon, epicatechin in chocolate (the dark stuff, not the ones you are getting on Valentines day), and hundreds of others. The image that accompanies this shows the chemical structure of resveratrol, with its prominent central hexagons.

Plants make polyphenols for their own health. They absorb uv light, they ward off insects that eat them, they attract insects that help them (like bees). For complex reasons we do not understand well the same molecules also stir our metabolisms. Fortunately we do not have to understand the phenomenon to exploit it. Polyphenols are one of the best things you can eat to stay healthy as long as possible when you age. Yet not all the useful polyphenols come in an apple or a blueberry. Some of them come from distinctly strange sources, like tree sap and plant roots. LifeGuard Essentials is a daily dose of five key polyphenols from natural sources that augment even the healthiest diet.