A Safe, Non-Drug, Natural Approach to Chronic Stress

Experts now believe that chronic stress can be a factor in any disease.

Chronic Stress Alters Immune Function

Stress is interpreted by the body as a danger signal and results in the "fight or flight" response which affects both the brain and immune system.Your adrenal glands release cortisol which allows your body to defend itself through heightened awareness, increased heart rate, and increased blood flow to muscles. Cortisol also has the ability to alter the immune system's production of white blood cells, and to cause them to migrate to particular areas of the body during times of injury, infection, and stress.

However, during periods of chronic stress, continued activation of the immune system persists like the "boy who cried wolf," in that the danger signals are ignored because of their persistence.

Mobilization of Immune Cells Produces Free Radicals

Chemical messengers called "cytokines" go to work, sending messages to the brain that cause more white blood cells to mobilize. The more white blood cells your body activates, the more free radicals they produce. These free radicals are among your immune system's most powerful weapons, during periods of emotional stress and disease, in response to injury, and even in the aging process itself. Research demonstrates that Flavay® may restore cytokine imbalances and normalize white blood cell activity, thereby normalizing immune function.

Flavay® Scavenges Rampaging Free Radicals

Free radicals are like pellets of poison that destroy invaders by interfering with their cellular machinery, literally dissolving or breaking down the genetic material of bacteria, toxins and viruses.

When all is going well, the immune system is capable of identifying foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria by accurately "reading" molecular codes found on cell surfaces. These molecular codes are like flags of different armies, and the immune system will not attack a cells if it "reads" a flag belonging to the body's own host army. Unfortunately, however, free radicals can interfere with the biological components of our healthy cells, just as they destroy invaders. This leads to many diseases.

When the immune system's cytokines activate macrophages (the white blood cells capable of gobbling up invading viruses and bacteria), the macrophages produce large amounts of nitric oxide in the course of battle. Nitric oxide is a colorless gas produced by different cells in the body that, depending on the situation, can be very good or very bad. Research has shown that Flavay® works to keep nitric oxide within normal limits in the body. (10,103,202)

Flavay® is Particularly Effective in Protecting Your Body Against Chronic Stress

Flavay® inhibits the release and synthesis of histamine (which produces accelerated blood flow, dilates capillaries and increases their permeability, thereby leaking plasma into surrounding tissue), a key factor in the promotion of inflammation. Studies demonstrate that the anti-histamine action of Flavay® is obtained through inhibiting the activity of the enzyme histidine decarboxylase. Studies have demonstrated that Flavay® may lower the production of histamine with as much as 86 percent inhibition of histidine decarboxylase. This is of particular interest in protecting your body against stress. (1,2,35,56,77)

Research suggests histamine may still be involved in the pathogenesis of stress ulcers. Because Flavay® is shown to prevent excessive histamine release, it has been shown in the laboratory to reduce stress ulcers in the stomach and intestine by 82 percent. (8,146)

Chronic Stress Alters Cardiovascular Function

When we are under stress, our adrenaline flows and causes our blood vessels to constrict, increasing blood pressure, and blood platelets are activated—prepared to clump together to form a clot. This "fight or flight response" is appropriate in short-term dangerous situations. The blood platelets are prepared for an injury to more quickly form a blood clot and more efficiently prevent blood loss.

Chronic stress causes constant constriction of blood vessels and continuously "sticky" blood platelets, always prepared to form a clot. These are classic risk factors for heart disease and stroke. When blood vessels are constricted there is less area for the blood to flow through and atherosclerotic plaque may further reduce the space for blood flow. If some blood platelets stick together and form a clot, the vessel may be completely clogged and surrounding tissue is deprived of oxygen and nutrients. This is how a heart attacks and strokes develop.

Research shows that Flavay® improves nitric oxide levels produced by cells that line the arteries. Nitric oxide controls the muscles surrounding the blood vessels and causes them to relax. At the same time, nitric oxide causes blood platelets to return to their normal, smooth condition. (10,103,202)

Flavay® Supports The Brain-Immune Connection

Top research institutions worldwide now understand that there is a two-way chemical dialog between the brain and the immune system. Each can influence the other directly. There is an ongoing chemical dialog between the brain and the immune system, a connection that depends on two languages: the neurotransmitters of the brain, and the immunotransmitters of the immune system. (14)

Flavay® supports your immune system in several important ways. First, by recycling the activity of vitamins C and E—key players in the body's immune system—Flavay® gives the body more ammunition to fight infection. Second, research demonstrates that Flavay® prevents free radical damage to macrophages, a type of white blood cell that generates nitric oxide to destroy bacteria, viruses, and host parasites. (3,5,14)

As long as nitric oxide is produced in the right amount, it is beneficial to the body; nitric oxide fights infection, kills tumor cells, and promotes wound healing. But when nitric oxide is produced in excess, it throws the brain-immune connection off kilter and causes some of the brain's worst free radical damage. Over the past decade, scientists have shown that the production of nitric oxide through the combination of immune and nervous system activity (often sparked by an infection, exposure to a toxin, or as part of the aging process) plays a key role in the development of neurological diseases. Thus, Flavay’s® ability to help regulate nitric oxide can profoundly benefit the body’s immune and brain functions. (14)

Flavay® and the Nitric Oxide Connection

Nitric oxide is produced in the endothelial cells (cells that line the interior of blood vessels) from arginine, and the nutrients in Flavay® act on the endothelial cells to produce nitric oxide, which, in turn, relaxes the blood vessels. This action counteracts the vasoconstricting effects (the closing or narrowing of blood vessels that leads to decreased blood flow) of the stress hormone adrenaline and also diminishes the threat of platelets clumping.

Nitric oxide plays several important roles in the body:

• Nitric oxide is an important signaling molecule that turns genes on and off.
• By controlling the muscular tone of blood vessels, nitric oxide regulates the circulation and normalizes blood flow.
• Nitric oxide modulates communication between brain cells and is instrumental in helping us concentrate and learn new information, and also in maintaining memory.
• When produced by immune cells, nitric oxide fights infection, kills tumor cells and promotes wound healing.
• Nitric oxide is essential for perceiving pleasure and pain, and it helps translate sexual excitement into penile erections.
• Nitric oxide aids in digestion of food by helping to control gastric movements. (203,204)

But nitric oxide can be very destructive under other circumstances:

• Nitric oxide restricts blood flow.
• When produced in excess by immune cells, nitric oxide can trigger chronic inflammation, which can cause arthritis, colitis, inflammatory bowel disease and possibly cancer.
• Nitric oxide promotes production of more free radicals.
• In the brain, nitric oxide can hamper mental function and cause memory loss and brain aging. (203,204)

The real trouble starts when nitric oxide encounters the superoxide free radical and becomes peroxynitrate, which destroys antioxidants like glutathione, vitamin E and common flavonoids, and damages proteins in the body. The good news is that Flavay® scavenges peroxynitrate and has a remarkable modulatory effect on nitric oxide—helping to maintain optimal levels in the body and neutralizing this free radical where it does harm. (10,103,202)

Flavay®: Your Weapon Against Toxic Free Radicals

Research also demonstrates that Flavay® can quench the hydroxyl radical. This is extremely important. Of all the free radicals formed in the body, the hydroxyl radical is the most dangerous because it can directly attack DNA. As a free radical scavenger, Flavay® is like an antioxidant prize fighter that can successfully take on all challengers, big or small, in any kind of weather. (1-5)

During any challenge to your immune system—because of disease, infections, toxic exposure, stress or aging—you need the extra antioxidant power in Flavay® to help scavenge the free radicals naturally produced by the immune system's cells during warfare. When your immune system works better, your joints hurt less and your blood flows better.

Flavay Plus® Adds Synergistic Help for Brain Function, Attention & Acuity

Flavay Plus® uses a synergistic blend of Flavay® with antioxidant vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients to best take advantage of the dynamic interplay among the key antioxidants and their co-factor nutrients.

Phosphatidyl serine:

Flavay Plus® is formulated with phosphatidyl serine, a complex of amino and fatty acids extracted from soy lecithin, which has proven to be a safe, potentially effective therapeutic agent in treating memory deficit disorders and is an often-used supplement for attention deficit disorders. Phosphatidyl serine has been the subject of many human clinical trials regarding memory loss, mood, cognitive performance, learning ability and stress. Many studies show that phosphatidyl serine can optimize cognition. In the most famous human study, researchers gave 300 mg of phosphatidyl serine a day for 12 weeks to 149 subjects over 50. Various memory and learning tests were administered before and after. The results showed that phosphatidyl serine managed to raise cognitive performance to the levels typical for as much as 12 years younger. (110,114)

In a study where a group of 27 ADHD children took 200 to 300 mg of phosphatidyl serine daily for four months, researchers found that 25 children exhibited improvement in learning capacity and behavior; and the researchers noted that there were no adverse affects. This substance also has the potential to stimulate the brain to produce dopamine. Published, double-blind research shows that phosphatidyl serine can also be helpful for depression. (110,113)

Phosphatidyl serine is a phospholipid that is vital to brain cell structure and function. Phospholipids are molecules containing both amino and fatty acid components, which are found in every cell membrane in our bodies. Phosphatidyl serine plays an important role in our neurotransmitter systems, in metabolism levels of the brain, and in maintaining nerve connections in the brain. It appears to help reestablish the normal down-regulation of cortisol secretion that is increased in chronically stressed individuals, and its benefit in dementia and depression may relate to improved brain cell membrane fluidity. In the clinical studies, phosphatidyl serine (100 mg three times daily) has been shown to improve the mood and mental function in those with Parkinson’s disease. (110,113,114,119)

Scientific studies have demonstrated that phosphatidyl serine supplementation can increase the output of acetylcholine, the neurotransmitter so important to memory. Clinical trials with elderly patients suffering from memory deficit disorders have shown that adding phosphatidyl serine to the daily diet improved the ability of these patients to think and decreased behavioral disturbances. In other studies, phosphatidyl serine also improved the performance of patients with age-associated memory impairment, a disorder affecting millions of Americans each year. (106-145)

Flavay Plus® Helps With Stress

The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders reported that children with ADHD experienced abnormal rhythms in the stress hormone cortisol. (14,195)

Research has shown that phosphatidyl serine works to keep the brain’s processes within normal limits, raising them when they are low and lowering them when they are high. So phosphatidyl serine boosts the weak stress response in the elderly person and calms down exaggerated stress in the healthy young person. Both physical and mental stressful conditions cause stress hormones to be released into circulation, even in the young and healthy. Phosphatidyl serine given to athletes prior to starting exercise produced an impressive degree of down-regulation of the stress hormones. Phosphatidyl serine may have the capacity to “normalize” the stress-induced activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study conducted in Italy, phosphatidyl serine lowered stress hormone (cortisol) production by 30 percent. (117)

Two more recent placebo controlled studies confirmed the earlier double-blind trials; young, university students experienced significantly less stress from tests when they took phosphatidyl serine (300 mg daily for 30 days), they stayed more clear-headed and composed, and kept a more stable mood. (190,191)

Flavay's® antioxidant protection of brain cells is significant as recent studies have established a connection between free radical damage and cognitive impairment. Research demonstrates that Flavay® helps regulate nitric oxide: a colorless gas produced by many different cells in the body: from endothelial cells on the walls of the arteries to the neurons in the brain to the disease-fighting cells of the immune system. Nitric oxide modulates communication between brain cells and is thereby deeply involved in concentration, learning and memory. And, by controlling the muscular tone of blood vessels, nitric oxide regulates circulation and normalizes blood flow. As long as nitric oxide is produced in the right amount, it is beneficial to the body. Overproduction of nitric oxide, however, promotes production of more free radicals in the brain, which can hamper mental function and cause memory loss and brain aging. Thus, Flavay's® ability to help maintain the optimal level of nitric oxide profoundly influences brain (and immune) functions. (10,14)

This nontoxic, water soluble nutrient holds promise as an alternative to Ritalin. Many children with ADD have found this substance effective to decrease their symptoms by normalizing brain function. It seems to improve memory by improving circulation to the brain. Free radicals reprogram DNA and have been implicated in more than sixty diseases. Flavay® has been shown to help in inflammation of the joints and other tissues, as well as improve functioning of the circulatory, nervous and immune systems. (1,177)

What makes Flavay® superior to other extracts?

More than 60 years of solid scientific research, patents and clinical studies, rigorous manufacturing controls and comprehensive identity testing to safeguard quality and consistency, Flavay® is produced at the same French manufacturing facilities for pharmaceutical over-the-counter and dietary supplement uses worldwide. Flavay® is the name you can trust for pure and unadulterated authentic small-cluster OPCs manufactured in France for over 60 years.

Proanthocyanidin clusters must have a certain molecular size to be effective.

Oligomeric (small-cluster) proanthocyanidins (OPCs) are organic clusters of dimers (2), trimers (3), tetramers (4) and pentamers (5)—and no larger. (Larger clusters are non-nutritive: cannot pass the intestinal tract into the blood and too large to fit between collagen fibrils, and therefore unable to repair decayed collagen.) Dr. Masquelier received several patents for the commercial extraction and isolation of OPCs from pine bark and grape seeds. It is these highly defined complexes in Flavay® that have been subject to intensive biological, toxicological, pharmacological and analytical research; and approved in Europe as over-the-counter medicines. (2-4)

Synergistic Benefits in a Capsule

Flavay Plus® utilizes the dynamic interplay between these antioxidant nutrients and their co-factors in order to provide you and your family with the best that nutritional science has to offer in a convenient, cost effective capsule.

Look, Feel and Think Younger with both
Flavay® and Flavay Plus®

Get the results you want now: Flavay® rebuilds collagen, improves circulation and health in skin cells, and reduces inflammation; boosts the immune system with powerful antioxidant action; and Flavay Plus® can help improve concentration, attention and memory—raising cognitive performance to the levels typical for as much as 12 years younger! (1,18,19,25,33,56,123)

Flavay® customers
say it best:

“Flavay® is terrific. I've had concentration problems, well, for 60 years, all my life. I couldn't have direct eye contact with people when talking with them because I couldn't concentrate. I told jokes but couldn't make people laugh because I couldn't keep my concentration. Now I can look people in the eye. Now I can make people laugh! I don't know how it works but it works and it is terrific.”
—Mr. Wayne S.

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