What are Antioxidants?

Antioxidants are substances that, among other things, help protect your cells against the effects of the free radicals produced during normal metabolism and growth. Antioxidants are potent scavengers of free radicals and serve as inhibitors of neoplastic (cancerous) processes. A large number of synthetic and natural antioxidants have been demonstrated to induce beneficial effects on human health and disease prevention.

Antioxidants are present in foods as vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, and polyphenols, among others. Antioxidants are present in many foods, most famously in berries, certain vegetables, red wine, green tea and even dark chocolate, and are also beneficial when taken as supplements.

Antioxidants are plentiful in more common vitamins such as retinol or Vitamin A, ascorbic acid or Vitamin C, tocopherol or Vitamin E, and selenium. They can be nutrients (vitamins and minerals) as well as enzymes (proteins in your body that assist in chemical reactions)

Vitamin C, a water-soluble glucose derivative, has considerable antioxidant activity in vitro, in part because of its ease of oxidation and because the semidehydroascorbate radical derived from it is of low reactivity. Vitamin C in vivo is an essential cofactor for a range of enzymes involved in diverse metabolic pathways, but much recent literature has focused on its antioxidant effects.

Vitamin E supplementation improves cell-mediated immunity in mice and in humans. In addition to modulating the oxidation of low-density lipoproteins, vitamin E can modulate immune/endothelial cells interactions, thus reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a major cause of morbidity and mortality in elderly.

“Free radicals are molecules produced when your body breaks down food, or by environmental exposures like tobacco smoke and radiation. Free radicals can damage cells, and may play a role in heart disease, cancer and other diseases”.US National Library of Medicine . From this statement it is easy to see how important it is to ensure that you digest foods with antioxidant properties.