Why Are Antioxidants Vital To Me?
Are you aware that when we breath oxygen, it interacts with certain molecules in our bodies to create free radicals and that these free radicals damage important cellular structures such as DNA and cell membranes? Well, it is true and this damage may lead to cells to function poorly and mutate. Free radical damage may lead to illness and aging.
We are exposed to huge amounts of free radicals from pollution, and insecticides. Every time you breathe, you’re taking in millions of free radical molecules made by fag smoke, radiation, and vehicle emissions. Each time you eat, you consume free radicals in the form of insecticides and chemicals.
This is where antioxidants come in. Our bodies have a natural defense system against these free radicals. Our immunity mechanism creates antioxidants which are able to neutralise free radicals and stop much cellular damage. We also need antioxidants from alternative sources such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, some meat, chickens and fish.
I bet you may recognize these antioxidants : vitamin E, C and beta carotene ( a kind of vitamin A. Others include luetin, lycopene, magnesium, and zinc.
There was much talk about antioxidants stopping heart disease which is so threatening that it leads to a mean of 1 death every 34 seconds. The American Heart Association asserts, ?Oxidation of low-density lipoprotein ( LDL or “bad” ) cholesterol is critical in the development of fatty buildups in the arteries. This process, called atherosclerosis ( ath”er-o-skleh-RO’sis ), can cause coronaries and strokes. Increasing evidence suggests that LDL cholesterol lipoprotein oxidation and its biological effects can be prevented by employing antioxidants — both in the diet and in supplements.? In 1993, Harvard University analysts reported that supplemental doses of vitamin E essentially reduced the risk of coronary disease by as much as 54 percent!
And what effects can antioxidants have on the enormous ?C? Word? This is a query that each one of us are dying to understand since one Yankee in each 3 living today will get cancer, and one in four will die from it. The national Cancer Institute announces, ?Considerable lab proof from chemical, cell culture, and animal studies reveals that antioxidants may slow or possibly forestall the development of cancer. However, information from contemporary clinical tests is less clear.? Selenium, an antioxidant mineral can help protect against breast cancer. One expert, Dr. Gerhard Schrauzer of the college of California at San Diego, mentioned “If each lady in America started taking selenium additions or had a high-selenium diet, then inside a few years the breast cancer rate in this country would significantly decline. And according to a study by Dr. Larry Clark of the college of Arizona, 2 hundred micrograms daily of selenium cut the rate of prostate trouble by 69% and lung cancer by 34%.
So clearly antioxidants are vital for each one of us to brace and protect our immunological defenses and to help guard against disease. Antioxidants may even help us live longer. The theory is that if free radical damage causes aging, antioxidants in high enough quantities should be able to slow aging. This speculation is advanced in one California study of folk aged fifty or older, where it was discovered that those “… With a higher intake of vitamin C were found to have a total mortality rate only 40% of that for those with the lower intake of C … This decrease in the mortality rate corresponds to an increase by eleven years in the length of life.” Even tiny doses of vitamin C can be useful. According to one UCLA study only three hundred mg a day can add six years to a person’s life and 2 years to a girl’s life.
Antioxidants are made naturally by your body but supplementation from food or other sources is needed. The highest concentrations of antioxidants are found in the most extraordinarily or brightly colored fruit and vegetables like spinach, red bell peppers, raspberries, carrots, apricots, pomegranates, and tomatoes.
