How Antioxidants Are Good For Our Health ?
Before I start explaining why antioxidants are good for health, it is necessary to know some basic science behind it, thereafter we will be able to understand health benefits of antioxidants easily.
Everything around us is made up of atoms. Atoms are primarily made up of these subatomic particles :
- Nucleus is a small but a dense mass at centre of an atom. It is made up of protons and neutrons and has an overall positive charge.
- Electron moves around the nucleus in a circular orbit which is called as shells & these particles have negative electric charge.
Each shell is to be filled with a fixed number of electrons. If one shell is filled completely; electrons start to fill the next shell, until the atom reaches it’s stable configuration.
If the outermost shell of an atom is not filled completely, it can bond with another atom (of same element or another element) by transferring or sharing of electrons to fill the shell. These kind of atoms are known as free radicals.
Atoms with completely filled shells are stable, whereas free radicals are those type of atoms which are unstable and are chemically very reactive, they react very rapidly with other atoms in the body.
Causes of formation
Generally free radicals are formed as part of natural processes in our body, but some factors may quicken their production. These include:
- Exposure to hazardous chemicals like pesticides
- Air pollution, industrial chemicals
- Cigarette Smoke
- Exposure to X-rays
- Alcohol consumption
- Fried foods
In our body free radicals are formed naturally, but if formed in excess can damage our body cells and can cause various diseases such as cardiovascular and inflammatory disease, cataract, and even cancer. They can also lead to early aging because they damage body cells.
Avoiding these things may control free radical production in our body and can help our body to fight against several diseases.
What Are Antioxidants ?
Antioxidants are some substances that can stop oxidation, a chemical reaction which produces free radicals in our body that may damage body cells of organisms.
They may lessen or inhibit the bad effects of free radicals developed during oxidation. Antioxidants do so by donating electron/s to free radicals and thereby making them stable and very less reactive.
A unique property of antioxidants is that they donate electrons to free radicals without themselves becoming a reactive free radical.
Although our body naturally produces some effective antioxidants like alpha lipoic acid and glutathione, but these are not enough to tackle all the free radicals if their quantity in our body becomes large.
There are some food substances which supply the necessary amount of antioxidants to our body.
ORAC stands for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity which means the level of antioxidant in a food substance. Higher the ORAC value stronger is the antioxidant capacity of the substance.
Some foods with high ORAC value include:
- Spices, cloves, ground 314446
- Sumac, bran, raw 312400
- Spices, cinnamon, ground 267536
- Sorghum, bran, hi-tannin 240000
- Spices, oregano, dried 200129
- Spices, turmeric, ground 159277
- Acai berry, freeze-dried 102700
- Sorghum, bran, black 100800
- Sumac, grain, raw 86800
- Cocoa, dry powder, unsweetened 80933
(Source: www.oracvalues.com)
Sources Of Antioxidants
- Vitamin E- Sunflower seeds, almonds, peanut butter, wheat germ oil, avocados
- Vitamin A- Carrots, sweet potatoes, liver, pumpkin, turnip greens
- Vitamin C- Acai Berries, kiwis, sweet peppers, peaches, broccoli, citrus fruit,
- Cryptoxanthin- Butternut squash, tangerines, papaya, plums, corn
- Selenium- Mixed nuts, turkey, wheat, tuna, wheat
- Astaxanthin- Lobster, crab, shrimp, seaweed, salmon
- Anthocyanin- Eggplant, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, red cabbage
- Lycopene- Tomatoes, guavas, watermelon, pink grapefruit, asparagus
- Lutein- Spinach, kale, mustard green, swiss chard, green peas
- Catechins- Dark chocolate, green tea, black tea, red wine, black grapes,
- Quercetin- Onions, apples, parsley, olive oil, dark cherries
Takeaway
High levels of free radicals cause several diseases and health problems like vision loss, cancer, heart diseases etc. but it does not imply that the increased consumption of artificial antioxidants will reduce the risk of diseases.
So, it is recommended to take antioxidants from natural sources as mentioned above.
Before taking any antioxidant supplements one should first consult a health care provider.