Antioxidants: Keeping us healthy by destroying one free radical at a time

Antioxidants and their health benefits have dominated the nutritional headlines over the last few months. Thought to prevent different forms of heart disease and treat various brain injuries, antioxidants have become the latest trend among today’s health conscious. Turning once maligned foods such as chocolate, wine and certain oils into natural health remedies, people are now consuming a wide variety of foods that were previously avoided.

While most people know that certain foods are considered healthy, few actually understand how they maintain our well-being. These natural wonders work by destroying the free radicals in our bodies. When oxygen comes into contact with various molecules in our bodily cells, a reaction occurs in which they lose an electron. These molecules become known as free radicals and are highly reactive and destructive. Known as reactive oxygen species, free radicals can attack cellular components in tissues, DNA, and proteins.

Antioxidants work to impede these deleterious reactions from taking place. By preventing or slowing the oxidation process, they donate electrons to disable these free radicals. It is amazing to think that eating a bunch of blueberries and washing them down with a glass of red wine can actually help repair our damaged bodily tissue. There are many antioxidants that are naturally produced by our bodies, but it is the dietary form that has created the recent buzz.

Consisting largely of fruits and vegetables, these dietary antioxidants are broken down into two categories called carotenoids and flavonoids. These carry essential compounds such as ascorbic acid and carotenes and, in addition to countering the effects of free radicals, help attack unsaturated fats. It is important to consume a well-balanced variety of antioxidants as they each have specific roles in localized parts of the body.

As is with the over-indulgence of anything, consuming too many antioxidants may have negative health consequences. Studies have shown that they can couple with minerals such as iron and zinc to affect absorbance in the digestive tract of the gastro-intestinal system. With moderate, controlled intake, however, antioxidant-containing foods are a powerful source of all-natural health maintenance. As it turns out, an antioxidant a day can, in fact, work to keep the doctor away.



posted by Thomas FitzGerald