Antioxidants – what they are how they work, and why they are important.

THE ABC’S OF Antioxidants

For a while now, there has been a lot of talk surrounding antioxidants and their role in good health. However, few people know what they are or how they work. Sure, we have heard that blueberries or green tea pack a wallop in terms of antioxidant strength. But what is it that they are walloping?

Antioxidants are molecules that fight free radicals in your body. These free radicals are compounds that can cause harm if their levels become too high and are linked to multiple illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Free radicals are constantly being formed in your body. Without antioxidants, free radicals would cause serious harm very quickly, eventually resulting in death. But the flip side is that free radicals also serve important functions that are essential for health. Your immune cells use free radicals to fight infections. As a result, your body needs to maintain a certain balance of free radicals and antioxidants.

When free radicals outnumber antioxidants, it can lead to a state called oxidative stress. Prolonged oxidative stress can damage your DNA and other important molecules in your body. Today’s lifestyle, stressors, and environmental factors are being shown to promote excessive oxidative stress. Air pollution, cigarette smoke, alcohol intake, environmental toxins, high blood sugar levels and intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, bacterial, fungal, and viral infections, excessive intake of iron, magnesium, copper, and zinc, along with intense and prolonged exercise, which causes tissue damage are all culpable factors.

Antioxidants are essential for the survival of all living things, and your body has its own antioxidant defenses to keep free radicals in check. This is also true for plants and animals, as well as all other forms of life, which have their own defenses against free radicals and oxidative damage. Therefore, antioxidants are found in all whole foods of plant and animal origin.

Adequate antioxidant intake is important. In fact, your life depends on the intake of certain antioxidants. This is where food, especially fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based, whole foods become effective in boosting the body’s response to balancing antioxidants and free radicals.

Antioxidants are categorized as either water- or fat-soluble. Water-soluble antioxidants perform their actions in the fluid inside and outside cells, whereas fat-soluble ones act primarily in cell membranes. The most important dietary antioxidants include Vitamin C (watersoluble and an essential dietary nutrient), Vitamin E (fat-soluble and plays a critical role in protecting cell membranes against oxidative damage), and Flavonoids (group of plant antioxidants has many beneficial health effects.) Other antioxidants include Vitamin A, selenium and carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, lutein, lycopene and zeaxanthin.

Berries, green tea, coffee and dark chocolate are renowned for being good sources of antioxidants. According to some studies, coffee is the single biggest source of antioxidants in the Western diet, but this is partly because the average individual doesn’t eat that many antioxidant-rich foods. Meat products and fish also contain antioxidants, but to a lesser extent than fruits and vegetables.

Equally, many substances that happen to be antioxidants also have other important functions. Notable examples include curcuminoids in turmeric and oleocanthal in extra virgin olive oil. These substances function as antioxidants but also have potent anti-inflammatory activity.

The overall message regarding antioxidants is that it is best when possible to incorporate foods rich in these gems into our diet. They aide the body’s natural system of function to balance the free radicals also created within it.

Which foods are high in antioxidants?

Dark Chocolate, Coffee and Green Tea

Chocolate is a good source of antioxidants known as flavonoids and contains other phenolic compounds. These come from the cocoa bean, which is a taken from the seed of the fruit of the cocoa tree. Green tea contains a catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Catechins are natural antioxidants that help prevent cell damage. Most significant of this trio is coffee which has shown more antioxidant activity than both cocoa and green tea. Scientists have identified approximately 1,000 antioxidants in unprocessed coffee beans, and hundreds more that develop during the roasting process.

Vitamin C Fruits and Vegetables

Vitamin C helps to support your immune system and vision and is important in wound healing as well as tissue repair. It has also been shown to have a regenerative effect on other antioxidants in the body including Vitamin E. Foods high in Vitamin C include oranges, tomatoes, kiwi, green peppers, guava, pineapples, lemons, mangos and cantaloupe. Broccoli and Brussel sprouts are also high in Vitamin C.

Vitamin E Essentials

Vitamin E works as an antioxidant, in addition to supporting our immune system, blood vessels and vision. Foods rich in this vitamin include sunflower seeds, almonds, peanut butter, tomatoes, pinenuts, apricots, seaweed, avocado and acai.

Selenium Rich Foods

Selenium is an important element mostly found in meat and has an important role in thyroid function. Selenium rich foods include brazil nuts, tuna, halibut, sardines, ham, shrimp, beef, chicken, cottage cheese and eggs.

Carrots & Carotenoids

Carotenoids are another category of antioxidants that are theorized to have a variety of health benefits. Over 600 of these carotenoids have been identified in foods. Among these, beta-carotene is considered the most important pro-Vitamin A carotenoid. Foods rich in beta-carotene include carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, kale, apricots, spinach, peas and cantaloupe. Other well-known carotenoids that are not converted into Vitamin A but are still thought to have powerful antioxidant effects include lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin. Foods rich in Lycopene are guavas, bell peppers, cabbage, tomato, grapefruit, persimmon, mangos, papaya and watermelon. Food rich in Lutein and Zeaxanthin include spinach, collard greens, turnips, kale, peas, squash, parsley, zucchini, edamame and pumpkin.

Anthocyanin Rich Foods

Anthocyanins are rich in foods that appear blue, red or purple; they are also found in the flowers and fruits of many other plants. They are a subclass of phytochemicals that may provide protection against heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Foods included in this category are Red Delicious apples, bilberries, black currants, black olives, blackberries, blueberries, cherries, chokeberries, cranberries and elderberries.