Antioxidants are beneficial compounds our bodies need in order to fight off free radicals. They also help to prevent certain diseases like cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and asthma. Antioxidants also help to aggressively fight cancer cells from forming. Here’s a quick overview of how antioxidants can help you stay healthier.
Like every other part of our bodies, our cells are vulnerable to destruction and disease. One of the main culprits that are always looking for ways to attack our bodies are free radicals. What’s a free radical?
Free radicals are atoms that don’t have a complete ring of electrons surrounding them. The electrons surrounding an atom are supposed to be in pairs. When one of the electrons is missing the atom is classified as a free radical because it is now in a highly reactive state. When it encounters cells in our bodies it reacts to them and begins to destroy them. If free radicals aren’t stopped they will continue to destroy the cells of an organ until it eventually dies. Enter, antioxidants.
Antioxidants help you stay healthier because they fight off these free radicals, and prevent them from destroying cells. As much as antioxidants are vital to our overall health for this purpose, they have other benefits as well.
The antioxidant, glutathione, is composed of 3 amino acids and, in addition to putting those free radicals in their place, it also helps to form and maintain disulphide bonds in proteins, it helps to transport amino acids across cell membranes, and it detoxifies harmful compounds present in the body.
Vitamin C is another vital antioxidant, and believe it or not, our body does not produce it. It’s true. The only vitamin C we get is what is found in the food we eat. Vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid. Because it is such an effective antioxidant it is important to maintain a regular intake of it. It is also thought that vitamin C has the ability to regenerate the antioxidant; vitamin E. Aside from these two qualities, vitamin C has other health benefits as well.
It is vital to the sturdy construction of collagen. This is important because collagen is an essential part of the walls of our blood vessels, our bones, and the many ligaments and tendons that hold our bones together and in place.
The cells of our bodies produce antioxidants of their own also. Most of these antioxidants, however, are used up in the cells in which they are made. Therefore, it is extremely important that we include antioxidant-rich foods in our diets. The outside antioxidants serve to protect other areas of our bodies from destruction, and they strengthen our bodies so they can fight off infections and diseases. The antioxidants in our diet may also help the natural antioxidants in our cells when the need arises.
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