These fat-soluble pigments give fruits and vegetables their yllow, orange and red colors. Green leafy vegetables are rich in carotenoids but their pigments are masked by the green color of chlorophyll. Dietary carotenoids provide a significant portion of the body's vitamin A, particularly in a vegetarian diet. Many carotenoids are antioxidants that protect cells against free radicals by neutralizing them before they cause oxidative damage. Carotenoids including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, and lutein are potent antioxidants that help protect the body from free radical damage. In addition to being antioxidants, carotenoids also help to rejuventate the body by promoting the growth of healthy cells and inhibiting the growth of unhealthy ones. The beneficial actions of carotenoids are optimal when a variety of carotenoids are consumed together, rather than alone.
Flavonoids
These compounds were first discovered by Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Alber Szent-Gyorgi, who considered them essential to health because they seemed necessary for protecting blood vessels and capillaries. He discovered that flavonoids grealty enhance the absorption and effectiveness of Vitamin C in preventing leaky capillaries and so he named them "vitamin P" (for "permeability factor").
Flavonoids are responsible for the bluish-purple colors of many fruits, vegetables, flowers, and outer skins of nuts such as the peanuts. Flavonoids are known to possess potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-enhancing properties. They have a beneficial action on numerous physiological processes in the body and have been found to benefit the heart, blood vessels, liver, immune system, connective tissue, adrenal glands, kidneys, musculature and nervous sytems. The flavonoid compound, 2"-O-GIV was first isolated by Osawa et. al. in 1992 from young barley grass juice and found to possess potent antioxidant activity.
Over the last decade, 2"-O-GIV has been well-studied by Dr. Takayuki Shibamoto and colleagues at the University of California, Davis. They have found that 2"-O-GIV, present only in young barley grass, is an extremely effective antioxidant in preventing free-radical oxidation of lipids found in the skin and blood. Similar to other flavonoids, 2"-O-GIV enhances the antioxidant actions of vitam C. It also helps prevent the formation of the toxic compounds malonaldehyde and acetaldehyde, which are known to denature proteins and DNA.