Controlling the Damage

What Are Antioxidants? As the name implies, antioxidants are substances that are capable of counteracting the damaging, but normal, effects of the physiological process of oxidation in animal tissue. Antioxidants are nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in your body that assist in chemical reactions). They are believed to play a role

Health is a balancing act between: Oxidants (e.g. Reactive Oxygen Species – ROS) and Anti-Oxidants. Whilst the term ‘reactive oxygen species’ might seem confusing and daunting it is actually quite easy to understand. Humans are aerobic organisms; this means that we use little organelles called mitochondria in order to provide

Photo credit: shutterstock Antioxidant Nutrients Antioxidants from our diet appear to be of great importance in controlling damage by free radicals. Each nutrient is unique in terms of its structure and antioxidant function. Vitamin E is actually a generic term that refers to all entities (eight found so far) that

Photo credit: nccih.nih.gov The best antioxidant sources are fruits and vegetables, as well as products derived from plants. Some good choices include blueberries, raspberries, apples, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, eggplant, and legumes like red kidney beans or black beans. They’re also found in green tea, black tea, and dark chocolate.

ROS are produced in the body in day-to-day life by: ROS can be directly introduced into the body: The Antioxidant Process Antioxidants block the process of oxidation by neutralizing free radicals. In doing so, the antioxidants themselves become oxidized. That is why there is a constant need to replenish our antioxidant

It’s not exactly agreed upon who first “discovered” antioxidants. Antioxidants have been dated in medical literature to the early 19th and 20th centuries, but researchers and health experts have been discussing them for much longer. Each antioxidant has its own unique history of discovery. Some, such as vitamin C and vitamin E, were

Photo credit: pinterest This discussion pertains to the ADDITION of supplemental forms of anti-oxidants. Since antioxidants counteract the harmful effects of free radicals, you would think that we should consume as much as of them as possible. The truth is, although there is little doubt that antioxidants are a

Photo credit: pixabay It’s vital that you remove oxidative stress to prevent cellular damage that initiates many diseases e.g. diabetes, Alzheimer Disease, atherosclerosis / heart disease. Anti-oxidants are needed to balance the oxidants produced by and present in the body from normal biological activities that damage the body’s ROS

Just like any other supplement, it doesn’t seem that it’s beneficial or even necessarily safe to consume high doses of antioxidants in supplement form. For example, because during exercise oxygen consumption can increase by a factor of more than 10, taking high doses of antioxidants might interfere with proper exercise recovery.