Wednesday, August 26, 2009

What Antioxidants Can Do For You

By Erica Aveeno

There are a range of diseases such as cancer, heart ailments, strokes, sicknesses attached with aging, etc that can be prevented by antioxidants. Antioxidants help cleaning the injurious free radicals from the human body.

Antioxidant refers to a collection of organic substances, including vitamins C and E, vitamin A, selenium a mineral, and a group known as carotenoids - beta-carotene being the most popular and well know carotenoid. Carotenoids are the pigment compounds that give many fruits and vegetables their lively colors.

The free radicals, when left unmanaged, can damage cell walls, genetic material within cells and other cell structures. Over a period of time such damage may lead to disease. Again, antioxidants are believed to assist in preventing disease by destroying free radicals before they get the chance to do harm to your body.

Biochemical research and heaps of clinical trials have been performed, and results have been exposed. Smokers who consume their diets with elevated carotenoids have a relatively lower risk of developing lung cancer. High carotenoids may also be preventative for breast cancers. Antioxidant vitamin C has also been proven to stop the creation of a cancer causing substance from nitrates in foods " N-nitroso compounds.

Antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and catalase are created inside the human body, and help the body in cleaning the harmful free radicals. These enzymes are available as oral supplements.

Supplementing with the components the body requires to make these enzymes may be more effective. These include the minerals managanese, zinc and copper for superoxide dismutase and selenium for glutathione peroxidase.

Numerous vitamins and minerals also show antioxidative traits such as vitamin C, vitamin B2, vitamin E, lutein, lycopene, amino acid- cysteine, and coenzyme Q10. Bilberry, green tea, milk thistle, turmeric, grape seed, and ginkgo are some herbs showing antioxidant charecteristics.

The antioxidant activity decreases with age of the human body, thus many health care specialists claim that the elderly, especially those with a reduced food intake, heavy drinkers, frequent aspirin users, smokers and individuals with immune problems may benefit greatly by taking daily antioxidant supplements. Higher levels of antioxidants in the body are certain to help preventing life threatening diseases.

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