The Power of Antioxidants

Posted by Nikki Young

May 29, 2008

In a few of my articles now I have mentioned the importance of antioxidants, not only to keep the skin looking healthy, but also for good health.

So many things are starting to become linked to causing cancer and I’m sure everyone has heard the line “___ causes cancer” and “___ causes cancer”. And possibly it’s come to the point where everything causes cancer so you just don’t worry about it!

The reason so many things are now showing links to causing cancer is because of one common trait; they all play a roll in the death or mutation of cells. In the article Blood – An Indicator of Health, I explain how dead cells and mutated cells affect the healthy function of the body.

One of the main causes of the destruction of cells within the body is free-radicals. Free-radicals are inevitable, they are increased within our bodies with almost everything we do such as breathing, eating, and exercising. Without free-radicals we would be dead, they are a natural part of life, what we do need to focus on however is reducing the amount of free-radicals which we are susceptible too on a daily basis, as the more free-radical damage which occurs in your body and on your cells, the higher your chances are of sickness and disease.

Below is an image displaying a perfect example of how free-radicals and antioxidants work. The red free radical in the image has lost an electron, which keeps it stable. Without a balance of electrons the free-radical bombards the body searching for an electron to balance it up again, and it is only until the free-radical has obtained an electron to balance it up that it will stop attacking cells trying to steal theirs. An antioxidant contains many spare electrons which it can pass onto free-radicals. The more antioxidants that are travelling through your body the less damage free-radicals can do because a spare electron will quickly be passed onto it.

All fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants; some such as blueberries contain higher amounts of antioxidants. Vitamins A, C and E are well known for being excellent sources of antioxidants and are found in many beauty creams as well as being an added ingredient in food products. Un-fortunately the majority of vitamins which are added into beauty creams or food is a synthetic man made version of the nutrient and is not as effective in the body as the natural vitamin found in whole food.

The best way to obtain plenty of antioxidants on a daily basis is ensuring a good intake of fresh, raw and organic vegetables every day, this rule is simple, yet not many people actually apply it.

The Australian Government has spent over 5million dollars on trying to get Australians to consume 2 pieces of fruit and 5 pieces of vegetables every day, yet less than 10% of Australians will eat that many servings every single day.

vege man

A lot of people will claim they eat enough fruits and vegetables, however how much is really enough? It really depends on the individual person, as many environmental factors come into play and increase the amount of free-radicals within the body, some factors which dramatically increase free-radical damage include:

Smoking or breathing in cigarette smoke
Breathing in chemicals, i.e. petrol fumes
Consuming chemicals i.e. chlorine and fluoride in tap water
Sugar
Radiation from mobile phones
UV lights
Sunburn
Hydrogenated fat
Stress

A lot of the factors which increase free-radical damage are things we can’t control, and it is a good reason why we should focus on consuming as many antioxidants from fresh fruits and vegetables every single day, and not just hoping to obtain good health with the bare minimum.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::