July 23, 2015
(GreenMedInfo.com) As it turns out, flavonoids seem to work mechanistically similar to anti-anxiety drugs: they are able to pass the blood-brain barrier, but without the side effects of medications.
Benzodiazepines like diazepam (Valium) are well-known drugs to help people to feel calmer through their sedating, hypnotic, anti-anxiety, muscle-relaxant effects. These effects are thought to occur, at least in part, because of the drug’s ability to enhance the neurotransmitter, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), at a specific receptor site in the brain. As it turns out, certain members of the class of phytochemicals called flavonoids seem to work mechanistically similar to benzodiazepines: they are able to pass the blood-brain barrier (and the blood-brain barrier is notoriously “picky” about what it lets in!) and even sit on brain receptors.
One of the first research studies published on plant flavonoids binding to these anti-anxiety receptors was from a Danish group back in 1988. They were able to identify one of the most active compounds in Karmelitergeist, an alcoholic extract of several plants, including lemon balm, nutmeg, cinnamon, and angelica root. It was a flavonoid called amentoflavon(e), and it was as potent as diazepam (Valium) in binding to certain brain receptors. Since then, the large family of flavonoids have been explored and some popular types have been identified: kaempferol, myricetin, quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, hesperetin, naringenin, catechins, epicatechins, anthocyanidins, cyanidins, to name a few. Select flavonoids from botanicals have been reported to influence brain receptors including:
Read the rest of this great article and please go to UtopiaSilver.com for great supplements–>