Protect your body with antioxidants

Added 07.11.2011

Wherever you look nowadays, the words "rich in antioxidants" seem to be plastered everywhere. Whether these words are on a carton of fruit juice, a tub of anti-aging face cream or on a supplement label, antioxidants are all the rave right now. Why all the attention? Continue reading to find out! 

What are free radicals and oxidative stress?

In order to understand what antioxidants are and how they can help us, we need to shift our focus on free radicals first.

These are unstable, highly reactive chemicals that result from many things such as: when your body breaks down food (especially diets high in sugar); exposure to pollution and toxins (tobacco, radiation, chemicals); excess exercise; excess sun exposure; excess stress; pharmaceutical drugs; and the natural process of aging.

Why are free radicals harmful?

Because free radicals are missing an electron and are unstable, their mission is to steal electrons from normal cells in their quest to become stable. The problem is leaving a normal cell without an electron can cause major damage to that cell's structure and function (oxidation). A little bit of this is an inevitable part of our lives; but too many free radicals roaming around our body causes ongoing oxidative stress and in the world of chemistry, this process is the same as what happens to a piece of iron that rusts over time.

In essence as we age, we generate more free radicals and our body experiences this form of rusting. Externally this is evident in our wrinkles, skin texture and suppleness, and so on. Internally however, oxidative stress can silently be causing damage at a much earlier age. We now know that many of the diseases our society suffers from today are in fact caused by oxidative stress. These include:

• cancer
• heart disease
• arthritis
• Alzheimer's disease
• Parkinson's disease
• diabetes
• autoimmune diseases
• eye disorders (macular degeneration, cataracts)

While we cannot get rid of all free radicals, we can certainly help to minimise their numbers and negative impact. and this is where antioxidants come in.

Antioxidants to the rescue

Antioxidants are molecules that neutralise free radicals and prevent oxidation and sometimes even repair damaged cells. They do this by giving an electron to a free radical so that it becomes a stable molecule and cannot damage our body's cells. Some well known antioxidants are: vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, coenzyme Q10, selenium and lycopene.

Sources of antioxidants

Vegetables and fruits are the best sources of antioxidants; but sadly we cannot rely on getting all the antioxidants we need from food sources alone because of our manufacturing and agricultural process and the poor nutrient content of our soil.