Tea flavonoids have little short term impact on serum antioxidant activity

Abstract

EDITOR,—There is currently much interest in the possible benefits of dietary flavonoids in preventing cardiovascular diseases.1 2 The apparent protective effect has been attributed to the potent antioxidant activity of flavonoids. In vitro flavonoids are powerful inhibitors of the oxidation of low density lipoproteins, a process that has been strongly implicated in the development of atherosclerosis.3 For some years we have been using enhanced chemiluminescence as a simple method of measuring antioxidant activity in biological …