InflaPlex feeds inflammation; it doesn’t treat it or try to make it go away, because we recognize that inflammation is not a disease in itself, but rather a crucial part of the healing process. Buckwheat is one of the primary ingredients in our InflaPlex formula precisely because it aids and speeds along this process.
Buckwheat has been used medicinally in Southeast Asia for nearly six thousand years. From there, the use of buckwheat spread to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe and made its way to North America in the 1600s.
The plant’s value lies in a special nutrient called rutin.
Inflammation is a process
There is a widespread misunderstanding about inflammation and what to do with it. This stems from the way that doctors commonly approach inflammatory conditions, which is to quell the inflammation with anti-inflammatory drugs. But from a basic biological point of view, inflammation is really part of an important healing process and not a disease in itself. Therefore, the body requires nutrients to see its way through to healing and recovery.
Inflammation, as a process, creates several important stages:
1. Bringing nutrients to the site of injury or infection
2. Increasing heat to the affected area
3. Increasing white blood cell response
4. Walling off the site of injury or infection with fluid (that creates swelling)
5. Creating pain so that the body lets you know it is injured and not to use the injured tissue (to avoid causing further injury or interfere with the healing process.
In essence, then, inflammation can be seen as part of the healing process.
Rutin comes to the rescue
Inflammation has much to do with blood vessels, nerves, and oxygen. When you are injured or have an infection (including a cold or even a serious disease), inflammation is a symptom.
Injury does not necessarily refer to external trauma caused such as a blow to the head or an automobile accident. It can also be from poor nutrition that leads to a breakdown of important tissues such as those comprising the blood vessels, joints and bones, stomach lining, eyes, skin, or respiratory system, to name but a few.
Rutin, a key nutrient in buckwheat, helps the body produce collagen and use vitamin C, which are needed to heal damaged tissues. Rutin also aids in blood circulation, which is the body’s means of bringing much-needed nutrients and certain cells to the site of infections and injuries. Rutin can help strengthen and increase flexibility in blood vessels, such as your arteries and capillaries, which leads to a healthier heart and cardiovascular system.
When inflammation is associated with arthritis, rutin helps ease the pain.
Additional benefits of rutin
Heavy metals can be toxic to the body, and as a result they cause inflammation when the body tries to get rid of them. Studies have shown that rutin can bind these metals, and keep them from causing toxic effects.
Rutin also counteracts platelet-activating factor, which causes blood clot formation and triggers inflammatory reactions of allergies. Plus, it can reduce the rate at which oxidized LDL cholesterol attracts the white blood cells that transform it into the plaque that hardens arteries.
Rutin is a mild anti-inflammatory agent and a strong antioxidant, and it strengthens the linings of blood vessels throughout the body, reducing bleeding and preventing collapse.
How Buckwheat Empowers InflaPlex
Buckwheat is the rutin-containing organic food within NutriPlex Formulas’ InflaPlex. We also include other anti-inflammatory foods such as echinacea, bilberry, wild pansy, carrot, alfalfa, kelp, and Shiitake mushroom, and much more, which have been clinically shown to support the body’s effort to address the underlying causes of inflammation. As with buckwheat, they support the inflammation process rather than trying to suppress it.
After all, inflammation is a natural response to injury and infection, so what the body needs the most is to have a supply of essential nutrients rather than to have its defense system quelled with anti-inflammatory drugs such as steroids.