Flavonoids are said to provide the human body with a protective effect. They are found in specific plants which are said to increase the body’s immunity. So far there have been no tests designed to check the effectiveness of the anti oxidizing properties of flavanoids.

Scientists at the Institute for Nutrition and Food Sciences at Bonn, in Germany have been growing a special set of herbs to test the effectiveness of the flavonoids that they carry. In place of the regular carbon c12, these plants are grown with a rarer isotope C-13.

This is likely to be easier to measure in blood samples of the experiment volunteers who eat these specially grown herbs. The volunteers will be tested for any other protective effects that their immune system is boosted with. Of course the plants need to be grown before they can be eaten.

The tricky part is the actual growing of these herbs. They have to be kept in a special chamber where the air is controlled. The doctoral student who is tending to these plants is not allowed to breath inside the chamber as the carbon in the carbon dioxide she breathes out will distort the results of the science experiment by altering the carbon type present in the plants.