What's up with Antioxidants anyway? Six months ago I really didn't have a clue about what antioxidants were. I had heard the word many times before and the most I could tell you was that broccoli, tomatoes and blueberries were good for you because they contained "antioxidants". These days everything including shampoo and facial cream are lauding the power of antioxidants.
The scientific community is getting away from what you should not eat. Do not eat fat, sugar, red meat all are bad for you, leaves a person very confused about what to eat? The latest medical research suggests that free radical damage and oxidative stress play a role in most diseases as well as in aging. The classic vitamin antioxidants are C, E and beta-carotene. Certain minerals such as zinc and selenium are also involved in antioxidant protection. However, research shows that tea, chocolate, soy products as well as fruits and vegetables have been shown to have compounds in them that provide antioxidant capabilities.
Studies at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston suggest that consuming fruits and vegetables with a high-ORAC value may help slow the aging process in both body and brain. ORAC--short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity-is a standardized test that measures the ability of foods, blood plasma, and just about any substance to subdue oxygen free radicals.
Science has long held that damage by oxygen free radicals is behind many of the diseases that come with aging, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. There's firm evidence that a high intake of fruits and vegetables reduces risk of cancer and that a low intake raises risk". Antioxidants are protective substances found naturally in fruits, vegetables and grains, so just do as Mom said and eat your fruits, vegetables and whole grains. A good way to get your antioxidants is from the rainbow of colors available. Yellow foods contain lutein, which protects eyesight and anthoxanthins that increases detoxification and are protective against certain kinds of cancer.
Red foods contain lycopene believed to lower the risk of stomach, bladder and colon cancer.
Green foods get their color from chlorophyll that has the ability to block the action of certain cancer-causing substances.
Orange foods contain beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant shown to prevent cancers of the stomach, breast, lung and cervix.
Blue/purple foods have anthocyanin, besides protecting against cancer it also dilates blood vessels and reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack. This may be the same reason that red wine has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack.
Nutrition is complex and antioxidants are not the whole story and we may never know the whole story, but when included in a healthy diet along with fiber and moderate amounts of protein and fat, you are well on your way to preventing disease or even reversing it. Medical science has discovered a molecule called Glutathione, which they have named the Master Antioxidant (more on this at a later date).
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