Antioxidants – What are they and do we really need them?
September 17, 2015
What are antioxidants and free radicals?
We hear about antioxidants all over the news today but do you have any idea what it all means? I get confused by all the reports from the many “tv docs” out there. I know they are good for us and can be found naturally in the environment – that’s a good thing. But what are they and what do they do? Is there really any evidence of health benefits? I don’t know about all of you but I have a Master’s Degree and still need all of this information dumbed down for me Barney-style (like the big purple dinosaur). So let’s get started:
Simply put, antioxidants can be natural or man-made substances that prevent or delay cell damage in our bodies. Antioxidants can be found in a variety of foods, but mostly in fruits and veggies. There are numerous confirmed scientific studies that prove antioxidants are good for us and eating a diet high in fruits and veggies will lower the risks associated with certain diseases. We all want to eat healthy, right? Unfortunately, many of us find it difficult (or impossible) to eat the amounts of fruits and veggies that we’d need in order to obtain the highest benefits of these powerful antioxidants.
Free radicals cause cell damage in our bodies. Free radicals can be found in the food we eat, the chemicals we consume (both knowingly and unknowingly), and the air we breathe. These free radicals are so damaging they can actually change DNA! So, we use antioxidants found in our food to counteract the negative effects of those free radicals. When we don’t eat enough healthy, antioxidant-rich foods, we can add supplements to help fight the free radicals. But what supplements do we take?
We are all pretty familiar with the most popular antioxidants – Vitamin C, Vitamin D, beta-carotene – and we know that eating fruits and vegetables provides us with many necessary antioxidants. But there are so many that we don’t know much about until we hear about them on tv or read about them in magazines. In the next few articles we are going to explore those many antioxidants so that we can learn to understand together what kinds of foods to eat and supplements to take. But here’s a hint….those multivitamin pills probably aren’t enough.
Graphic credit: Bryan DiSanto
Antioxidants: Beyond the Hype. November 2014. Harvard School of Public Health. DiSanto, Bryan. October 13, 2012. Antioxidants 101 – The Comprehensive Step-by-step Guide to Antioxidants. LeanItUp.com. Retrieved at http://www.leanitup.com/antioxidantson November 24, 2014. (Infographic)
