Dr. Ahmet Özyiğit was born in 1981 in the Famagusta district of Cyprus. Ozgen and Dr. He is the youngest of Savaş Özyiğit's three children.
After completing his high school education at Türk Maarif College in 1998, he completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in economics in the American state of Kansas. Özyiğit, who later completed his doctorate education in the same field of science, published many articles in this field.
Özyiğit, who later became interested in medical science, studied medicine at the University of Nicosia Faculty of Medicine. In addition to this education, he received his master's degree in Clinical Embryology from the University of Leeds and postgraduate education in Endocrinology from the University of South Wales.
With an eclectic academic background, Dr. Özyiğit continues his clinical studies, especially on weight loss, metabolism and healthy aging. An active member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Dr. Özyiğit applies anti-aging, weight loss and brain function improving treatments to his patients.
Dr. Ahmet Özyiğit
Wellness and Anti-aging Applications
Dr. Ahmet Özyiğit
Wellness and Anti-aging Applications
Flavanols: Important Nutrient Sources for Heart and Brain Health
Flavanoller, veya daha geniş isimleri ile flavonoidler, bazı meyve ve sebzelerde bulunan ve kalp ve beyin sağlığı için önemli olan moleküllerdir. Flavanoller, polifenol adı verilen besin moleküllerinin kaynağıdır. Yapılan bilimsel çalışmalar, diyetimizin içerisine ekleyeceğimiz belirli miktarlarda flavonoidlerin kalp krizinden ölme riskini %27 dolaylarında azalttığını göstermiştir (1). Bunun yanı sıra, flavanollerin beyin üzerindeki etkisini ölçmek için yapılan çalışmalarda, yaşlanmanın bir parçası olan algısal gerileme ve hafıza problemlerine karşı flavanollerin etkili olduğu gösterilmiştir (2).
There are also scientific studies showing that flavanols extend life. This is because it has senolytic properties that help destroy aging and dysfunctional cells during cell aging processes. We know and follow from scientific publications that supplements called Quercetin and Fisetin, especially sold as food supplements in concentrated form, have serious effects in this direction (3). Although these studies are just at the beginning, we can clearly see that flavanols have very positive effects on health. As a result, the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommended taking 400-600 mg of herbal flavolols daily against cardiometabolic diseases (4).
Sources of flavanols include cocoa, strawberries, grapes and berries. In particular, fruits such as blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, which have both antioxidant and strong anti-inflammatory properties, are a serious source of flavanols (5). A daily dose of these sources allows us to benefit from the senolytic activity offered by flavanols, which is cardioprotective, contributes to brain health, and allows the cleaning of aging cells from the body.
Even though we know its health benefits, unfortunately we do not consume it in sufficient quantities during the day. We can sometimes choose smoothies for this. We make a smoothie that is both healthy and delicious by blending many vegetables and fruits. However, there is something to be careful about at this point.
Latest scientific studies and publications show that some fruits added to smoothies contain the polyphenol oxidase enzyme, thus reducing the effect of polyphenols such as blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, which we add to these smoothies and try to benefit from their health benefits (6). For example, since banana is a very serious source of polyphenol oxidase, it can cause the other polyphenols in your smoothie to almost disappear. If you are trying to get your flavanols in high doses through smoothies, avoid banana and beet root in your smoothies. Instead, choose avocado, kale, and blueberry and blackberry mixtures.
If you cannot get your flavanols from daily food sources, you can use food supplement forms of flavanols, especially Fisetin and Quercetin.
References
(1) Sesso, HD et al. (2022) 'Effect of cocoa flavanol supplementation for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Events: The Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (Cosmos) randomized clinical trial', The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 115(6), pp. 1490–1500. doi:10.1093/ajcn/nqac055.
(2) Sloan, R.P. et al. (2021) 'Insights into the role of diet and dietary flavanols in cognitive aging: Results of a randomized controlled trial', scientific reports, 11(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-021-83370-2.
(3) Mbara, KC, Devnarain, N. and Owira, PM (2022) 'Potential role of polyphenolic flavonoids as senotherapeutic agents in degenerative diseases and geroprotection', pharmaceutical medicine, 36(6), pp. 331–352. doi:10.1007/s40290-022-00444-w.
(4) Crowe-White, K.M. et al. (2022) 'Flavan-3-ols and cardiometabolic health: First ever dietary bioactive guideline', Advances in Nutrition, 13(6), pp. 2070–2083. doi:10.1093/advances/nmac105.
(5) Rothwell, J.A. et al. (2013) 'Phenol-explorer 3.0: A major update of the phenol-explorer database to incorporate data on the effects of food processing on polyphenol content', Database, 2013(0). doi:10.1093/database/bat070.
(6) Ottaviani, J.I. et al. (2023) 'Impact of polyphenol oxidase on the bioavailability of flavan-3-ols in fruit smoothies: A controlled, single blinded, cross-over study', Food & Function, 14(18), pp. 8217–8228. doi:10.1039/d3fo01599h.
