A Guide To The Importance Of An Antioxidant Diet For A Healthy Life

A Guide To The Importance Of An Antioxidant Diet For A Healthy Life

by Albert Weinz

There is a lot of hype surrounding a group of compounds called antioxidants that are contained in food. They are said to do everything, ranging from being memory protectors to disease fighters as well as being an antidote to aging. Antioxidants happen to be natural ways of eliminating molecules in the body that are potentially dangerous. Such molecules appear in the form of synthetic chemicals like plastics, pesticides and chlorine byproducts. Here is a look at the importance of an antioxidant diet.

Antioxidants help in fighting oxidation, a normal chemical process that takes place in the body daily. Habits like smoking, taking alcohol or having stress can catalyze the process. Free radicals that are quite unstable molecules and likely to cause damage are formed in case the natural oxidation process is disrupted. The formation of destructive molecules of that type is triggered by oxygen, and can cause damage of body cells if not contained.

When the production of free radicals exceeds the protective defenses found in the body, oxidative stress occurs. This stress together with damage to cells caused by free radicals may initiate the initial stages of heart disease and cancer. The development of arthritis, Alzheimers disease, diabetes, cataracts, age-related blindness and kidney disease is also linked to free radicals.

For protection against such damage, the human body has defenses. It generates antioxidants for eliminating the free radicals and to protect cells from oxygen attack. Safe interaction with the radicals results in the chain of damage being slowed down before it can move on to the cells. To gain such helpful molecules, all one has to do is include them in a diet.

Some minerals like manganese and selenium together with particular vitamins like Vitamins C and E are antioxidants. In addition, plant compounds such as carotene and lycopene also contain antioxidants. Numerous food types are notable antioxidant sources and can be added to a diet. Although the above mentioned compounds are contained in seafood and meats in minimal amounts, plant foods offer the main antioxidants source.

Antioxidant systems come in a wide variety. However, how they work within the human body as a team is something that scientists are yet to know. The bottom line is that one antioxidant cannot do the work of many others by itself.

The best way of getting a variety of antioxidants in a diet is by consuming foods that represent all the rainbow colors. Every color provides its own one of a kind antioxidant effects. Deep yellow, bright orange vegetables and fruits such as sweet potatoes, carrots and apricots provide one kind of antioxidants, while red foods such as tomatoes provider the other. Green vegetables like cabbage and broccoli together with purple or blue foods like eggplant and blueberries each contain antioxidants packages.

Reducing the risks associated with certain diseases is what comprises the importance of an antioxidant diet. To come up with such diets, one has to incorporate vegetables, fruits and whole grains in large amounts. Failure to do will result in a higher likelihood of getting heart disease or cancer, which can be prevented easily.



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