Benefits of Antioxidants
Antioxidants benefit the body in several ways.
- They destroy the free radicals that damage cells.
- Promote the growth of healthy cells.
- Protect cells against premature, abnormal aging.
- Help fight age-related macular degeneration.
- Provide excellent support for the body's immune system.
What Are Free Radicals
Studies have shown that antioxidants may offer the best protection your body has against damaging free radicals!
A free radical is an unstable molecule that steals an electron from a stable molecule in order to satisfy its need for repair.
In doing so, this free radical destabilizes the stable molecule and creates another free radical in a vicious chain reaction of cellular destruction. A single free radical can cause damage to millions of other molecules in you body, preventing your body from functioning properly! This molecular destruction is continually occurring in your body!
Free radicals attack us from many different environmental sources every day. Some of which are: alcohol, tobacco, prescription drugs, harmful chemicals and additives in the foods we eat, sun bathing and pollutants in the air we breath. They assault your cells, large enzyme complexes, Vitamin C, and DNA. After age 28, the major source of aging is the production of free radicals. And with age, the amount of free radicals we produce increases. Scientists have determined that very large amounts of free radicals accumulated in your body, can lead to several types of cancer, and accelerate the signs of aging.
The Importance Of Antioxidants
Studies over the last 20 years have shown that free radical fighters found in a certain group of nutrients, namely antioxidants, can protect against a great many free radical initiated diseases. Antioxidants extinguish free radicals!
Free Radicals cause oxidation in the blood. Once oxidation occurs, disease can result. Antioxidants keep free radicals from causing oxidation in the blood, thus neutralizing disease. Also, stress, chemical pollution, environmental pollution, and the normal aging process increase the demands put upon the immune system.
Studies indicate antioxidants do more than protect against free radicals; they also stimulate the immune system's response to help fight existing diseases.
To maintain our health and well being, it is clearly imperative that we must supplement our diets with natural antioxidants. There are many places to find information about antioxidants online. Learn more about antioxidants and start the path to a healthier life!
Types Of Antioxidants
Antioxidants from our diet appear to be of great importance in controlling damage by free radicals. Each nutrient is unique in terms of its structure and antioxidant function.
Vitamin E is actually a generic term that refers to all entities (eight found so far) that exhibit biological activity of the isomer tocopherol (an isomer is one of two or more molecules that have the same chemical formula but different atomic arrangements). Alpha-tocopherol, the most widely available isomer, has the highest biopotency, or strongest effect in the body. Because it is fat-soluble (and can only dissolve in fats), alpha-tocopherol is in a unique position to safeguard cell membranes -- largely composed of fatty acids -- from damage by free radicals. Alpha-tocopherol also protects the fats in low-density lipoproteins (LDLs, or the "bad" cholesterol) from oxidation.
Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is a water-soluble vitamin. As such, it scavenges free radicals that are in an aqueous (watery) environment, such as inside your cells. Vitamin C works synergistically with vitamin E to quench free radicals. Vitamin C also regenerates the reduced (stable) form of vitamin E.
Beta-carotene, also a water-soluble vitamin, is the most widely studied of the 600 carotenoids identified to date. It is thought to be the best quencher of singlet oxygen (an energized but uncharged form of oxygen that is toxic to cells). Beta-carotene is also especially excellent at scavenging free radicals in low oxygen concentration.
Selenium is a trace element. It is a mineral that we need to consume in only very small quantities, but without which we could not survive. It forms the active site of several antioxidant enzymes including glutathione peroxidase.
Similar to selenium, the minerals manganese and zinc are trace elements that form an essential part of various antioxidant enzymes.
In addition to enzymes, vitamins, and minerals, there appear to be many other nutrients and compounds that have antioxidant properties. Among them is coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10, or ubiquinone), which is essential to energy production and can also protect the body from destructive free radicals. Also, uric acid, a product of DNA metabolism, has become increasingly recognized as an important antioxidant. Additionally, substances in plants called phytochemicals are being investigated for their antioxidant activity and health-promoting potential.
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